Pokémon: Lelouch of the Rebellion
by SamJaz
Summary: In a world without mecha, a pokémon trainer named Lelouch Lamperouge attained the power of kings and led a rebellion against the Britannian Empire. This is the story of the boy as he became a man. This is how he became Lelouch of the Revolution
1. Prologue

Japan.

A relatively small island nation off the coast of the Asian continent.

But this island has power.

This island has _Pokémon._

* * *

This in itself was not a cause for interest in of itself.

No, Japan's strength was in the fertility of its land, and the wide variety of Pokémon that gathered there.

Most of the other nations could only hope to have fifty species of Pokémon roaming wild in their homelands, yet Japan has hundreds.

Almost five hundred different native species, with more being discovered every few years.

Now, some would argue that countries such has Brazil have thousands of species of Bug type Pokémon, yet it is limited in that it is fertile _only_ in Bug type Pokémon.

Japan has Pokémon of all known seventeen types.

They were strong.

* * *

There was another island nation.

One on the other side of the world, and like most of the other nations, few species of Pokémon were native to this country naturally.

Most of them were the likes of Magikarp, Growlithe and Seedot, but this island nation was abundant in two Types of Pokémon:

Steel. And Dragon.

This island nation was rich in Dragonite, Tyranitar, Aggron, Steelix, Salamence, Flygon, Garchomp, Metagross, Lucario, Forretress…

The Pokémon of this island were strong.

* * *

The people of this island went out on ships to new lands and conquered.

They fought other countries, their powerful Pokémon as perfect weapons.

America, Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Iceland, South America, Hawaii, The Falklands, New Zealand, Indochina, The Philippines, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, the Southern Pacific Islands, Korea, Indonesia, The Middle East, even Japan succumbed to their great armies of Pokémon.

Oh, Japan's Pokémon were varied, and powerful, but as a small island nation, they could only hold out against the enemy for so long.

And years passed.

* * *

Japan had been stripped of its name and divided into regions, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and more.

The original inhabitants of the nation were made into lower-class citizens, made to bow daily to the foreigners that owned their land.

These foreigners made gyms, a Pokémon League even, a whole system based on the idea that those with the strongest Pokémon were the ones with power, the ones who dictated how the world turned.

There were those who fought against this system. Team Rocket, funded by their European benefactor, fought tooth and nail against this oppressive empire, but they were broken by a child whose sole claim to power was the foreign blood in his veins and the Pokémon he carried on his belt.

They couldn't even get weapons to fight against this boy; guns belonged to the army, everyone else had to make do with their Pokéballs.

But it wasn't just the broken natives who fought against this oppression, this dictatorship.

* * *

The young man held the injured woman as the military shot his friend, and moved to kill him. His Lucario and his Alakazam had fallen to the soldiers Arcanine and their Gengar, their Sandslash and all their other Pokémon who outmanoeuvred the young trainer and beat his Pokémon to the ground.

As the soldiers guns aimed for him and the woman, a single thought rang through his head.

_I want power. I don't want to die._

'_You don't want it to end here, do you?'_

The teenage trainer looked at the unconscious woman in surprise, as her voice continued in his head. _'You appear to have a reason for living. If I grant you power, could you go on? I propose a deal— in exchange for this power, you must agree to make my one wish come true. Accept this contract, and you accept its conditions. While living in the world of humans, you will live unlike any other: a different providence, a different time, a different life. The Power of the King will condemn you to a life of solitude.' _

'_Are you prepared for this?'_

The teenage boy hesitated, then nodded. _Yes!_ He thought desperately._ I hereby accept the terms of your contract!_

The girl pushed up and kissed him.

* * *

The trainer let the girl slump to the ground and rose to his feet, looking at the floor at his unconscious Pokémon. "Say…" He asked the soldiers. "How should a Britannian who detests his own country live his life?"

"Are you some kind of radical?" The head soldier snapped. "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" The boy demanded to know. "Why not shoot? Your opponent is just a schoolboy. Or have you finally realized…" He chuckled, holding his hand over his left eye. "The only ones who should kill _are those who are prepared to be killed_!"

The boy removed his hand, showing a glowing, purple eye with a pink symbol instead of an iris. "What's happening here?!" The head soldier shouted.

The young man pointed at the soldiers. "**I, Lelouch vi Britannia, command you!**" He shouted. "**Now, all of you…**" He brought his arm back. "**Die!**"

The soldiers stopped dead, then began laughing madly. Their Pokémon turned to their masters in confusion, and the soldiers brought their own guns to their necks.

"YES!" They shouted. "YOUR HIGHNESS!!"

* * *

_That was the turning point. Since that day, I've lived a lie: The lie of living. My name, too, was a lie. My personal history, a lie. Nothing but lies. I was sick to death of a world that couldn't be changed. But even in my lies, I refused to give up in despair. But now, this incredible power, it's mine._

_Well, then…_

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

OH SNAP I DID NOT JUST DO THAT!!

Oh hells yeah I did.

Hear that? That's the sound of your mind being splattered all over the walls.

Now, I decided to not make this a oneshot afterall, and continue the story. Because of this, I also changed the title and the category, but I'm sure you've noticed now.

Now, onto the next chapter!


	2. The Gray Beast Appears

Hey everyone, I decided to do my Code Geass / Pokémon crossover story properly.

Earlier, I did a one-shot called 'A brief history of the Pokémon world', which ended with the twist ending of the Pokémon world being the Code Geass world, only with Pokémon instead of Knightmares. It was full of win. So full of win, I'm renaming it and turning it into an ongoing story.

So, yeah. I won't be telling it from first person, like I usually do, but I'll be focusing on Lelouch, so that'll save time in writing scenes which, while important, I can't be bothered writing.

The story will be very similar to the Code Geass canon, except with Pokémon instead of Knightmares, and with references to the Pokémon games, such as gym leaders, Silph Co., and so on. I'll be replacing the JLF with Team Rocket, but I'll be keeping the Black Knights as that.

Of course, you can't just replace war mechs with animals in pokéballs and assume _everything_ will be the same. For example, there are many points in the story in which being able to whip out an arcanine would make life much easier, but you don't get to hide inside machines anymore, so that'll be fun.

So will the aerial battles, and the rules against not geassing those inside mechs no longer apply. Plus, with Pokémon under his control, Lelouch has a fair few tricks up his sleeve.

Now, in the one-shot, Farla pointed out that Kanto and the others were already divided into regions. I was actually aware of that, and was inferring that dividing it was more akin to the Berlin Wall, something to stop the lower-class citizens from moving too freely, preventing them organising anything large scale.

Another thing to consider is badges. With league badges, your Pokémon's stats grow faster and you can control higher level Pokémon that you yourself haven't trained from the wild. If only Britannians are allowed to challenge gyms for these badges, then that leaves other people having to catch their own Pokémon and raise it themselves, and even then it wouldn't be as powerful as someone with badges.

And someone who would want to kill without having to use a Pokémon would have a gun. I mean, having Pokémon with flamethrower can kill effectively, but a Pokémon with flamethrower and a gun in hand can kill more people faster. And, as you pointed out, there comes a point where you get tired of playing the elemental match-up game and you decide just to shoot the other guy.

Also, it's fanfiction. It doesn't have to make sense. Hell, a lot of published works don't.

So, anyways, the one-shot left off at the end of episode one, so I'll start this story at the start of episode 2, just after Lelouch gets his Geass and has killed a bunch of Britannian soldiers. Let's see what happens next.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Lelouch recalled his alakazam and his lucario into their premier ball and ultra ball respectively and looked at the pokémon that previously belonged to the dead trainers. Their brains took a while to register the death's of their masters, as with most pokémon, but they would soon return to becoming wild pokémon once the restraining effects connecting their pokéballs to their masters faded.

Lelouch locked eyes with the gengar that trumped his alakazam magnificently and drew an empty pokéball. "I command you," He ordered, activating his geass throwing the ball. "**Be caught!**"

The gengar slapped the ball aside and wandered off, leading the now free pokémon into the wild.

'_So this power only works on humans…'_ Lelouch thought. _'That's still more than enough.'_

"Hey! You!"

Lelouch turned to see a darkly tanned woman with silver hair enter the warehouse, looking at the scene in disgust. "What happened here?"

Lelouch turned to the woman. "**Give me your pokémon and your equipment.**" He ordered.

The woman reached down to her belt, containing six pokéballs, a radio and a handgun. "Yes sir." She complied, with a somewhat happy look on her face.

"Thank you." Lelouch said, taking the belt and examining the pokémon inside.

'_Level sixty-five to seventy-three's…'_ Lelouch sighed, removing two pokéballs and tossing them aside as he wrapped the woman's belt around him. As he only had yet to attain the Earth badge, he was limited in the strength of Pokémon he could take from others, despite having three level eighties of his own.

Unfortunately, his own party were too injured to battle, so he attached he woman's radio to his ear and walked out of there, the green haired woman from before having disappeared.

"Now…" He said to himself with a smile. "Let's see if we can't turn the tides of this battle…"

* * *

A red haired woman in a deep cap was holding out against the enemy soldiers with her kingler, her vileplume and her magmar, while leading them through the alleys to keep a guerrilla advantage. There were other rebels in similar dress, but she was clearly the most skilled pokémon trainer of the lot.

Unfortunately, the rebels were unorganised and being picked off one by one.

Lelouch sent the magneton he'd stolen out and used it to track the rebel frequency and tune his radio into it. "Q-1" He reported. "Tighten up your side and launch a stun-spore to your right."

The vileplume sent a cloud of yellow dust down that particular alley-way, either through his orders or by coincidence. _\_ "Who are you?" _\_ The woman barked into her radio.

"That's not important right now." Lelouch told her. "Just follow my orders and you won't just survive this battle." He grinned. "You'll _win._"

_\_ "What makes you think we'll trust you?" _\_ Another voice shouted. _\_ "For all we know, you could be the enemy!" _\_

Lelouch smiled. "There's a stopped cargo train on the monorail." He told them. "In there you'll not only find revives and full restores, but I'm sure you will find the pokémon contained within the containers to be most helpful."

* * *

The rebels must have stolen badges somehow, because they had no problem controlling the pokémon they just stole from Britannia.

'_Although, I have heard rumours of the previous leader of the viridian gym being connected to Team Rocket, even if it's currently lead by Green Oak…'_ Lelouch thought, so he wouldn't be surprised if some of these rebels had Earth badges.

Either way, guided by Lelouch's orders and armed with new pokémon, these rebels began to turn the tide of the battle.

Almost literally, now that one of them taught his new blastoise surf from a HM.

_\_ "Man, I don't know who the hell you are mystery voice," _\_ One of the rebels laughed. _\_ "But I could kiss you right now!" _\_

Lelouch stopped himself from chuckling. "Don't lose your focus P-1." He commanded. "At this stage in the game, a single wrong move could cost us the battle-"

**SMASH**

Lelouch stared wide-eyed at the… _thing_ that just came into view.

It was human shaped, but it couldn't be…

It wore thick, bumpy, rounded gray armour, with a white, amphibian skin visible in places between them. Live wires sparked from where the pokémon must have pulled itself free from some machine, and its purple tail flicked menacingly behind it.

A barrier appeared between it and the blastoise's hydro-pump, and then it vanished, reappearing before the blastoise and slashing it with a purple blade.

"A psycho cut…" Lelouch gasped. "GET OUT OF THERE NOW!!" He shouted into the microphone. "I have no idea what the hell that thing is, but we need to retreat, NOW!"

One fool was cocky enough to order his pokémon to attack, but the mystery monster performed the same technique first, killing the pokémon before throwing its trainer into a building.

'_Me first…'_ Lelouch thought, repeating his order to retreat.

Then a Britannian soldier span into the air and kicked the monster in the head, before falling to the ground, injured.

The monster looked at the soldier in interest as he struggled to his feet, clutching his ribs and favouring the leg that wasn't broken, but rushed forward to attack the armoured monster, only to get caught by the helmet in the beast's left hand.

The soldier stopped charging and stepped back from the monster, which turned around and stood between the soldier and the retreating rebels, as if waiting for orders.

Lelouch rushed down from his post, and didn't see the soldier lead the pokémon _away_ from the retreating foe.

* * *

Lelouch geassed a soldier to give him his uniform, name and rank, and then knocked him out with his stolen machamp and investigated the brain centre of the force attacking the Shinjuku ghetto.

None of the other soldier knew anything about the unknown pokémon that attacked, nor why it stopped, but most of the soldiers were focused on flushing out the Elevener rebels before they were ordered to bomb the whole place.

While most Britannians viewed Elevens as inferior, they still didn't want to have to bomb the place.

Lelouch frowned behind his helmet. The Clovis he knew as a boy wasn't like this.

* * *

Prince Clovis put the telephone down after calling off the cease-fire. "Are you satisfied?" He asked the soldier pointing a gun at him

"Very." The soldier stated. "Well done."

"And what shall we do now?" Clovis asked. "Sing a few lively ballads, or perhaps a nice game of chess?"

"That has a familiar ring." The soldier replied, closing his eyes as he removed his helmet, revealing his face. "Don't you recall?" Lelouch asked his half-brother. "The two of us used to battle together as boys. Of course," Lelouch sneered. "I would always win."

"Y-you…" Clovis gasped.

"It's been a long time, big brother." Lelouch chuckled. "The eldest son of the late consort Marianne and seventeenth in line to the imperial throne, Lelouch vi Britannia, at your service."

Clovis's horror turned to shock and then to delight. "L-Lelouch-!" The delight turned to terror as he realised his long lost half-brother was pointing a gun at his head. "B-But I thought—"

"That I was dead? You were wrong" Lelouch paused. "I have returned, Your Highness, and I've come back to change everything."

Clovis smiled. "I'm overjoyed, Lelouch!" He declared, standing to his feet. "They say you died once Japan was brought into the fold. What a blessing to have you back, we should depart for the homeland immediately."

"So you can use me as a tool of diplomacy." Lelouch sighed, shaking his head. "It seems you forgotten why we were used as tools in the first place."

Clovis gasped. "That's right." Lelouch told him. "It was because my mother was killed."

Lelouch stepped closer to his half-brother. "Mother held the title of Knight of Honour, but was a commoner by birth. No doubt the other imperial consorts held her in contempt. Even though you made it look like the work of terrorists, I'm no fool!" He shouted. "You people killed my mother!"

"It wasn't me!" Clovis protested. "I swear to you it wasn't!"

"Then tell me everything you know." Lelouch ordered. "The truth cannot be hidden from me any longer. **By whose hands was she slain!?**" He demanded, activating his Geass.

"My brother, Second Prince Schneizel and Second Princess Cornelia." Clovis answered dutifully. "They can tell you."

"They were at the heart of this?" Lelouch asked, deactivating his Geass. "That's all that you know, isn't it?"

"I swear it wasn't me!" Clovis insisted in fear. "I have… nothing to do with it!"

"I believe you." Lelouch responded, lowering his gun. "However…"

Lelouch stepped forward and put the gun to his half-brother's forehead. "Please, you can't!" Prince Clovis begged. "We may have different mothers, but you and I are still blood!"

Lelouch smiled. "You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty."

**BLAM**

Clovis fell back into his seat as blood seeped from the bullet hole in his forehead. Lelouch then grabbed the pokéballs he had taken from the woman earlier and placed them back onto the table as he replaced his helmet.

He didn't want Britannia to track him by the pokémon's OT number. That would put Nunnally in danger.

That would be unacceptable.

* * *

Part of the way back to Ashfield Academy, Lelouch rested against a wall and threw up. He'd wiped his brothers blood from his face and changed out of the soldier's uniform earlier, but the guilt still plagued him and it was making him sick.

He staggered into a taxi and geassed the driver, ordering the driver to take Lelouch home.

"Where do you live?" The driver asked him, under the influence of the Geass.

"Ashfield Academy." Lelouch sighed, collapsing into the back seat. "Wake me up when we get there…"

* * *

Lelouch woke up in his own bed, and the memories of the previous day ran though his mind.

He immediately ran to the bathroom and vomited until his stomach was empty, then stood up and wiped his mouth.

"That's right…" He said to himself. "I chose this path…"

* * *

When he went down to breakfast, Sayako handed him his Pokémon. "I paid the taxi driver last night and put you to bed master." Sayako reported with a bow. "But Nunnally is concerned about your extra-curricular activities."

"It's fine, really." Lelouch lied. "I just got caught in the crossfire yesterday and it brought back a few… memories."

"Oh, brother." Nunnally gasped. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Lelouch laughed, taking his sister by the hand as he sat down at the table. "How are you feeling today?"

"Very well, but brother…"

Lelouch chuckled. "I'll be alright." He repeated, almost as if he was convincing himself.

* * *

He bumped into a very familiar face at school that day, one that he was not expecting.

That female trainer with the vileplume from yesterday.

"Oooh, someone's finally taken your eye?" Rivalz chuckled. "Shirley will be soo heartbroken."

"Say, who is that girl?" Lelouch asked his friend.

"Hey, I think our boy might be straight after all!" Rivalz laughed. "We were starting to worry about you after…"

He stopped as Lelouch pointed an ultra ball to his face. "Right, never speak of it, gotcha." Rivalz said in a panic. "Anyways, her name's Kallen Stadtfield." He reported. "She's in our class, but she's off sick a lot, so I'm not surprised that you don't recognised her."

"She in any clubs?" Lelouch asked him as Rivalz flicked through his booklet.

"Erm… hang on… Ess, ess, ess, Stadtfield… here we are!" He announced, pointing at the redhead's picture. "Erm, nope." Rivalz shrugged. "Understandable because of her health, which is a shame because she's such a babe, but…"

"Think we should invite her to join student council?" Lelouch asked with interest. "Only, with her health and no clubs, she must be lonely at school."

Rivalz nudged his mate with a wink. "I hear ya loud and clear." He snickered. "You go talk to her about it in lunch; I'll go talk to Milly."

"Hey, we have P.E. next!" Lelouch called after his friend as Rivalz started to run off.

Rivalz spun around and began jogging backwards as he waved. "No thanks!" He called. "Dodgeball is your thing, I'd rather not."

"Suit yourself!" Lelouch laughed, setting off at a jog for the changing room.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

You know, this story is turning out to be interesting. I mean, someone who has the spinzaku kick appears to have gained control over something that seems to be mewtwo, badges exist, Geass doesn't work on Pokémon, but I think the most unbelievable part of this fic so far is that Lelouch is physically fit.

I know, right?

Now, I'm not going to have him running any marathons anytime soon, but at least now he won't get out-run by little bo peep.

And this makes sense in the Pokémon universe too. I mean, a good pokémon trainer has to be physically able to capture a pokémon and train it, so wussies need not apply.

Any suggestions for the rest of Lelouch's party? Or other people's by any chance? Leave your suggestions in your reviews, because this is gonna be fun.


	3. His Name Is Zero

Damn, this idea of mine will NOT leave me alone. I started writing this about half an hour after posting the previous chapter.

First, Griefen, you magnificent bastard.

Just a warning, I'm writing most of this from memory, so I'm lucky to get this much right. Blame everything else on that and the fact that it's Pokémon, so people's personalities have been changed slightly because of their influence. Yeah, that'll do.

Also, I'd like to announce that I have a new beta for this story, and he is doing a fantastic job.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"Excuse me ladies, but could I perhaps steal Miss Stadtfield from you for a moment?"

"Huh?"

Kallen looked up from her gaggle of fake friends to see a slender, Britannian student with dark hair and purple eyes talking to them. "Ah, sure." Kallen replied, standing up from the picnic mat and walking away with the boy while the other girls giggled.

* * *

"What did you bring me here for?" Kallen asked Lelouch once they were alone in the student council club house.

He turned to face her. "**Answer my questions.**" Lelouch ordered, Geass ablaze.

"What would you like me to know?" Kallen replied obediently.

* * *

Lelouch questioned her for some time, and she told him everything.

She was part of a small, local rebel group called Sableye, who was led by a man named Ohgi. They had been defending the Shinjuku ghetto yesterday when an unknown male on the radio began helping them. They almost won, but then the Britannians unleashed some monster of a pokémon that would have obliterated them if that soldier hadn't calmed it down.

Including herself, there were five surviving members of the resistance, their names being Kaname Ohgi, Kento Sugiyama, Yoshitaka Minami, Shinichirō Tamaki. Kallen's birth name is Kallen Kozuki, her father being a Britannian noble but her mother a Japanese woman.

When Kallen told Lelouch that Sableye would be likely to follow the voice again if they met him, Lelouch deactivated the Geass. "I was hoping that you would consider joining student council." Lelouch told her pleasantly.

"Eh?" Kallen asked.

"I mean, I've heard that you're rarely in school due to your health, so you haven't joined any clubs." Lelouch shrugged. "I mean, we'd be happy to have you as a member-"

"Is that what you brought me here for?" Kallen asked him. "To invite me to join your club?"

'_That confirms my suspicion. She doesn't have any memory of when she was under my Geass…'_ Lelouch deducted. _'That, or she just doesn't care.'_

"Well, if it helps sweeten the deal, student council members are pretty much above the law as far as school is concerned, so it'll be more convenient for you to take leave when you're ill." Lelouch offered.

She considered it. It would make it much easier for her to do missions with the others.

"Alright." She decided, offering her hand to shake. "Sign me up."

"Just one more thing." Lelouch said, activating his Geass as he shook her hand. "**Don't talk to anyone about Shinjuku.**"

Kallen gripped Lelouch's hand tight and reached for her vileplume's dusk ball. "What about Shinjuku?"

Realising his mistake, Lelouch almost shat a brick there and then, but Milly chose this as the perfect time to charge in and bust out the champagne. "WELCOME TO STUDENT COUNCIL!" She shouted.

"Sorry!" Rivalz apologised as He came in with the desserts tray, followed by Nina. "I knew you wanted to talk to her first, but as soon as I suggested it to Milly, well…"

"T-That's fine." Lelouch recovered, pulling away from Kallen. "Where's Shirley?"

"She's getting Nunnally right now!" Milly declared, shaking the bottle as she tried to pry the cork out. "But let's start the celebration right…" POP "NOW!!"

Lelouch instinctively dodged the rocketing cork, and Kallen knocked it from the air. For a split second, she feared her sick-girl charade was over, but, for better or worse, the others were distracted when the red-head got soaked to the skin in champagne foam.

"…Is there a shower nearby?" Kallen asked, after a moment of shocked silence.

* * *

Lelouch directed her to the bathroom so she could get a shower, then ran into the corridor to get some clothes from his room. As he did, his mind raced as he tried to figure out a way to throw Kallen's suspicion off him. That said, why hadn't his geass worked the second time round? Clearly, he would need to test this weapon until he was sure of it's full capabilities… But how?

"Man, that was pretty hot though." Rivalz joked. "Right Lulu?"

Well, speak of the devil… "Hey, Rivalz." Lelouch said, turning to his friend with his Geass activated. "**Do ten star jumps.**"

"Sure thing!" Rivalz declared, jumping into the air. "One… Two… Three…"

"**Stop doing star jumps.**" Lelouch ordered his friend.

"Four… Five…" Rivalz continued, ignoring Lelouch's command. "Six… Seven… Eight…"

"**I told you to stop doing star jumps.**" Lelouch repeated.

"Nine… Ten!" Rivalz declared, giving Lelouch a big thumb's up.

"Enjoy your exercise?" Lelouch asked him.

"Huh?" Rivalz said, tilting his head. "If you're talking about soaked Kallen, then there's better words for it."

"**Do ten star jumps.**" Lelouch ordered Rivalz.

"Not a chance." Rivalz stated, shaking his head. "And aren't you meant to be getting clothes for Kallen?"

'_I see… __so it really is just a one-time deal…_' Lelouch deducted, piecing together the information from his experiment. "Yeah, but would you mind if I borrowed your chatot for a second?" he asked having just realized how to throw Kallen off his scent.

"Eh?" Rivalz asked. "Why?"

"Twenty pounds and I'll give it back to you in ten minutes if you don't ask questions." Lelouch bartered.

Rivalz handed the Pokéball over. "Nice!" He said, taking the ten pound note Lelouch handed him. "Half now half later?"

"As always!" Lelouch smiled, jogging off towards his room.

* * *

"Sorry about that." Lelouch apologised as he entered the bathroom. "Milly's like that at times."

"Oh, it's fine."

"I brought you some of my spare clothes while yours are washed." Lelouch explained. "Nunnally didn't have any in your size, but I hope it's okay."

"Yes, thank you." Kallen said from behind the shower curtain as Lelouch admired her silhouette. "So, that was fast. Been to the boys dorm already?"

"No, I live in this building." Lelouch told her.

"Oh really?"

"My sister Nunnally lost her sight and her ability to walk when we were younger." Lelouch told her, "So the council president gave us special permission."

There was a short silence, broken only by the water coming from the shower head.

"Hey, could you pass me my purse?" Kallen asked, pointing her hand around the shower curtain and at a small pink rectangle by the sink.

"Uh, sure." Lelouch complied, looking away as he handed it to her.

He dropped it as she grabbed his wrist. "Hm?" He asked. "Well, this is unexpected."

"Why did you ask me about Shinjuku?" Kallen demanded to know.

"Is there any reason why I shouldn't?" Lelouch asked.

"Don't answer my question with a question." Kallen snapped, reaching for her lure ball containing her Kingler in case she needed to silence this boy. "Yes or no. That's all I wanna hear from you."

Then the phone rang.

'_Right on time.'_ Lelouch thought as he glanced at the clock. "You know, they'll send someone if I don't answer it." He pointed out to her.

…

"I'm going to pick the phone up now." Lelouch stated calmly, reaching for it with his free hand and putting it to his ear. "Hello?"

…

Lelouch passed the phone to Kallen. "It's for you."

Kallen hesitated for a second, then carefully placed the lure ball aside and took the phone, still holding onto Lelouch. "Hello?" She asked.

_\_ "_Good to see you're still alive__ Q-1."_ _\_

Kallen almost crapped herself once she recognised that voice. _\_ "_Come to the radio tower at four-pm tomorrow."_ _\_ The chatot's imitation of Lelouch said from the other side of the phone. _\_ "_Come alone."_ _\_ Sayako obeyed her geass command and hung the phone before Kallen could hear the "SKWARK!!"

"Hey, wait!" Kallen shouted into the phone, twisting around. "What about radio tower!?"

"What about radio tower?" Lelouch asked, feigning confusion.

Kallen looked at him. "It's that new game on the DS, right?" Lelouch lied. "Heart Gold and Soul Silver, yeah?"

"Uh, yeah." Kallen lied. "I mean, because I'm ill so much, I've been playing those games… but I'm kinda stuck on the next part, so…"

"I thought so." Lelouch nodded. "Makes sense really." _'She's not even considering defending why she was called at this number.'_ Lelouch smirked to himself. "By the way…" Lelouch turned his head away. "You are aware that I can see everything, right?"

"Eh?" Kallen asked, before looking down and realising that the telephone cord had pulled the shower curtain back, leaving nothing to Lelouch's imagination, having obliterated any need for such a thing. She immediately immediately shrieked and dropped both the phone and Lelouch's hand, curling up into a ball and pulling the curtain to cover herself.

"Sorry about that." Lelouch lied, moving towards the door. "Let's… just not talk about this again."

"Y-Yeah…" Kallen agreed, her face rapidly reaching the same colour as her hair.

"Also, the reason why I asked you not to talk about Shinjuku…" Lelouch said as he reached for the doorknob. "I almost got caught up in a battle between the army and team rocket there yesterday. It really wasn't pretty, and it'll be all over the news. I just thought that someone like yourself really shouldn't have to know about that kind of thing."

"Oh, oh okay." Kallen nodded, so embarrassed that she'd have accepted almost any explanation at that point. "J-just go!"

Lelouch left quickly and set out to track down Sayako and teach Chatot some new words to cover his tracks.

"I…" Kallen said to herself inside the shower. "Was wrong…"

* * *

"_I'm Rivalz and I lururve Milly Ashford, SKWARK!"_

"Hey, not funny!" The blue haired boy shouted at his mate as the girls giggled. "Dude, you just don't!"

"And you thought someone would pay twenty quid just to borrow your chatot?" Lelouch laughed. "Come on, I thought you knew the value of a penny!"

"You've insulted my honour!" Rivalz bellowed. "I DEMAND SATISFACTION!"

"Are you challenging me to a duel?" Lelouch asked, hands reaching for the pokéballs at his waist.

"H-hey, I just want some blood money!" Rivalz corrected himself.

"Once a duel has been challenged, you _Have_ to battle!" Shirley reminded Rivalz with a snicker. "You can't wimp out, remember?"

"H-Hey!" Rivalz shouted at her. "Weren't you telling us not to gamble earlier?"

"It's fine if no-one bets any money." Milly declared. "Right Nina?"

"Um… Yeah…" The girl replied nervously.

"THEN IT'S DECIDED!" Milly declared, swinging her rolled up paper between the two boys. "BEGIN!"

"Alakazam!" Lelouch decided, throwing his premier ball into the air and sending out the psychic type.

"Er… hey, Kallen!" Rivalz shouted, waving to the red-head as she came in. "Wow… those really suit you- URK!"

He was cut off by a focus punch to the face from Lelouch's Alakazam. "You're supposed to send out your pokémon in a battle… oh, Kallen."

"That wasn't very fair, brother." Nunnally pointed out.

"Eh, I deserved it…" Rivalz mumbled, rubbing his jaw as he got to his feet. "After all, there was no chance in hell that Lelouch would ever pass up the chance to fight dirty in a pokémon battle-whoa!" He shouted, dodging another punch and sending out a golduck to battle with. "Zen headbutt!"

The duck pokémon charged at alakazam, who elbowed it down to the ground and launched a thunderpunch between the golduck's shoulders.

"Gaaall…" Golduck screeched as it fainted.

"Good work." Lelouch complimented his pokémon as he returned it to its pokéball. "Your honour is intact." Lelouch told Rivalz as he curled up into a ball of self-pity. "Oh, and I don't fight dirty. I'm _pragmatic._"

Lelouch then turned to Kallen. "How're you feeling?"

"Erm… not that good." Kallen lied. "I think I'll go home… I don't think I'll be in school tomorrow…"

"That's fine." Shirley nodded. "We'll see you later, okay?"

"Goodbye, Kallen." Nunnally said, waving goodbye.

"T-thanks." Kallen smiled, before turning to Lelouch. "I'll return these when I can." She said.

"I'll send Sayako with your clothes once they're cleaned." Lelouch replied, walking towards her. "Let me walk you to the door."

"It's fine, really." Kallen declined. "I can see myself out."

Lelouch stopped. "Very well," He said, turning around. "if you insist."

"Hey, Lulu!" Shirley shouted. "Don't be rude!"

"She said it was fine…" Lelouch sighed, turning around again. "Right this way, Miss Stadtfield."

* * *

Lelouch geassed a tailor that evening to prepare his disguise, then to destroy the evidence once he collected them the next day. Lelouch made sure to prepare for the materials, purchasing it from a separate source entirely, and then got to work on constructing his helmet.

By which I mean geassing a mechanic into building it to his exact specifications.

On his travels, Nunnally gave him a desperate phone call, telling him that Suzaku had let a dangerous pokémon loose at Shinjuku and used the confusion to murder Prince Clovis, and was going to be executed the next day.

Lelouch was shocked that Britannia had decided on a scapegoat so quickly, but he quickly realised that they knew Suzaku was innocent, the Blood-purist association running the investigations just wanted to use him as an example to prevent the honorary Britannian system, which let Numbers ascend into middle and upper class society as an honorary Britannian.

"Don't worry Nunnally." Lelouch comforted her. "I'm sure it's just a mistake, just you wait and see. Everything will be fine, I promise."

_\_ "When will you be home brother?" _\_ Nunnally asked from the other end.

"Soon, I promise." Lelouch told her. "There's just one more errand I need to run and I'll be on the next taxi back- No, I'm not battling, whatever gave you that idea?"

_\_ "Call it a sisters intuition." _\_ Nunnally giggled.

"Well, I'm afraid that you're wrong this time." Lelouch replied honestly. "I'm not battling, I promise. Bye Nunnally."

_\_ "Bye brother." _\_ Nunnally replied as Lelouch hung up the phone.

Lelouch smiled and pocketed his Pokénav before entering into the black market shop.

"Whaddya want?" The Elevener shop keeper said.

Lelouch activated his Geass. "**Give me a snag machine.**" He ordered the man. "**A stylish one.**"

"'Ere ya go." The shopkeeper said, giving him the cloaked sleeve in a case. "On da house, Ah insist."

"Why thank you." Lelouch smiled, taking the case and leaving the shop a satisfied thief.

* * *

School was cancelled the next day, so Lelouch took spent it gathering his orders and preparing the elaborate show he'd be giving Kallen and her friends.

Kallen arrived at the radio tower early, followed by three men who were doing a rather decent job of being anonymous.

Lelouch smiled, and let her walk to the side as he handed the pokégear into the front desk, asking that it be returned to Kallen Kozuki.

That got her attention.

Lelouch quickly walked out of there and rang the number on the illegal pokégear he had cloned the previous night. "You're early." He told her, distorting his voice mechanically as he walked through the crowd. "I like that. Get on the next train at the nearest station. Bring your friends."

He then hung up and carried on walking.

He smirked with satisfaction as Kallen ran past him, quickly followed by three Elevener rebels.

Lelouch took his time. He had plenty of it before the next train arrived.

* * *

He got on the train at the front cabin while Kallen and her friends entered one closer to the middle.

Once the train got moving, Lelouch stood on his seat. "Attention everyone!" He shouted from the front, getting everyone's attention. "**Leave this cabin and do not let anyone enter except a girl with red hair and three Elevens.**"

Everyone immediately rose from their seats or let go of their handles and left the cabin, leaving Lelouch free to get changed, calling Kallen again as he did so, Asking her about the two cities on either side of the train, he smirked at her daring replies and summoned her and her allies to the front of the train.

He then smiled as he placed his helmet over his face and turned to face away from the door for effect. This had to go perfectly.

* * *

"Was that you in Shinjuku?" Kallen asked the robed figure who stood alone in the train. "Was the ceasefire your doing?"

"Hey!" One of her allies shouted, "We're talking to you!"

Lelouch turned around, revealing himself as a black cloaked figure in a black, metallic mask with a gold trimming where his mouth should be, and a purple visor covering most of his face. "_What do you think of my tour of the settlement?_" the distorted voice asked from behind the mask.

"The tour?" One rebel asked.

"Aw, come on." The other groaned. "There's no way it's this joker…"

"_I wanted you to fully grasp the two. The settlement,_" The masked man explained, lifting his left arm from beneath his cape. "_And the ghetto._" He added, raising his right arm.

"A snag arm…" One rebel gasped.

"Yeah, we know." The one with the Elvis haircut said, stepping forward. "There's a harsh difference between us and them, and that's why we fight."

"_You're wrong._" The masked figure told them, folding his arms beneath his cloak. "_Britannia will not fall to terrorism._"

"Fall?" The rebel leader, Ohgi, asked.

"_It's little better than childish nuisance._" The masked man continued, ignoring their protests. "_You should know your enemy… it is not the people you should fight, but BRITANNIA ITSELF!_" His anger was apparent, despite the mask and the voice distortion. "It _is a war you must wage… take up your sword and FIGHT FOR JUSTICE!"_

"That's very easy for you to say." Kallen snarled. "Hiding behind that mask… why should we even trust you!?"

"Yeah, lose the mask!" Another demanded.

"Are you going to show us your face, or not?" Ohgi asked.

"_Very well, I shall make myself known to you."_ The masked man said. "_But rather than my face, I shall show you who I am."_ Lelouch smiled behind the visor. "_If I deliver unto you the impossible, then I might earn your trust."_

* * *

That evening, during the parade where Suzaku was carried through the city for all to see, Kallen drove the late Prince Clovis's car down through the path of the parade, forcing it to grind to a stop.

This car was not a fake. This car had been taken through the bartering powers of the Geass, and at got the attention it deserved.

"You dare desecrate his royal highness's vehicle?" Margrave Jeremiah Gottswald shouted from his float, to which Suzaku was chained.

The back of Clovis's car was incinerated from the inside by a houndoom, revealing the masked man once more.

"_I am… ZERO!"_ Lelouch declared.

The crowd began panicking, and Kallen began sweating like she was in hell itself as Britannian soldiers released their dragons and other such powerful pokémon, surrounding them and leaving no hope for escape.

"Well, Zero." Jeremiah sneered. "How's about you lose that mask?"

Zero reached for his mask, then lowered it as he raised his other hand into the air, holding a master ball.

"_Suzaku Kurugi."_ Zero declared. "_I believe that this Pokémon belongs to you." _

Suzaku looked at him in confusion, but then realised just what was inside it. "DON'T DO IT!" He shouted. "YOU'LL- GAH!!" He was cut off by the electivire gripping him in a single hand.

"_That's right."_ Zero said. "_I hold in my hands a Pokémon so terrible, that none of you would be able to stop it."_

'_That bastard…_' Jeremiah thought desperately, knowing full well what is inside that master ball. _'I don't know how he got that, but he's taken every Britannian here hostage without them even knowing it!'_

Jeremiah did the sensible thing. "FINE!" He shouted. "What are your demands!?"

"_An exchange."_ Zero called. _"I will give you the pokémon inside this ball, and you give me Kurugi."_

"Not a snover's chance in hell." Jeremiah shouted back. "This man in charged with high treason, HE MURDERED A PRINCE!!"

The crowd gasped and burst into nervous chatter, and beneath his mask Lelouch smirked. He has them right where he wanted them. "_You're wrong._" Zero said. "_Kurugi is no murderer. The one who killed Prince Clovis…"_ He turned to face the cameraman running up the road to catch better footage of him. "_WAS ME!!"_

"_For a single eleven, you will save scores of Britannians._" Zero shouted over the din of the crowd. "_I find that to be more than fair a bargain."_

"KILL HIM!" Jeremiah shouted. "For disgracing the crown… CHARGE YOUR HYPER BEAMS!!"

"_Careful,"_ Zero warned as the monster's mouths opened wide and energy began to gather. "_You don't want the public to learn about Dunsparce, do you?"_

Zero tapped the floor, signalling for Kallen to move forward. "_If I die, it'll all go public. Everyone will know everything about Dunsparce."_

"What're you-" Jeremiah began.

"_If you don't want that to happen,"_ Zero said, opening a slot on his helmet and activating his Geass. "_**You'll do everything in your power to help us escape with Suzaku Kurugi unharmed!**_"

"Understood." Jeremiah nodded, hopping onto his metagross and floating into the air. "RELEASE THE PRISONER!"

"A-Are you nuts!?" Villetta Nu shouted, climbing up her kangaskan.

"YOU HEARD ME!" Jeremiah shouted. "RELEASE HIM NOW!"

The electivire backed off and a soldier helped Suzaku to his feet and sent him down the steps.

"What do you think you're doing?" Suzaku hissed at Zero.

"_I don't like it when people are blamed for my deeds._" Zero explained, throwing the master ball into the air as Kewell ordered the death of the rebels.

The master ball burnt, revealing itself to be a paper-Mache ball containing many shrunken pokéballs. They hit the ground, releasing the several ghastly within, growing rapidly and enveloping the crowd in their sleeping gas.

Zero and Kallen took Suzaku and ran for the edge of the building.

"TAKE MY METAGROSS!" Jeremiah shouted at Zero, tossing him its pokéballs as he covered their escape with a salamence. "ALL UNITS! HELP THEM ESCAPE AT ALL COSTS!"

The three jumped onto the floating metal pokémon and used it as a lift down to the truck awaiting them below, where Zero threw a heavy ball with his Snag Arm, capturing the metagross and changing its OT number to -0-.

Another favour he gained through the Geass. His own Trainer ID was (11)0629595372, 11 signifying which area he lived in, 0 that he was a Britannian citizen, and a nine digit code that identified Lelouch Lamperouge to the world.

He'd had a different OT once. Back when he was Lelouch Vi Britannia.

* * *

"So, are you really the one who killed Clovis?" Suzaku asked Zero. "Why!?"

"_This is war."_ Zero replied. "_Why wouldn't I kill my enemy?"_

"And Mewtwo!?" Suzaku shouted.

"_You saw for yourself that that was a bluff."_ Zero answered. "_The result? Not a single life was lost this night."_

"The result?" Suzaku asked, incredulous. "That's all that matters to you, isn't it?"

"_Come join me."_ Zero offered, missing what Suzaku was saying entirely. "_The Britannia you serve is but a useless dominion."_

"That may be true, but…" Suzaku glared at Zero. "But this nation can be changed for the better! _And_ from within!"

'_From within?_' Lelouch asked himself silently.

"And anything gained through contemptible means aren't worth anything." Suzaku added, turning to walk away.

"_Wait!_" Zero shouted. "_Where are you going?"_

"My court martial begins in an hour." Suzaku replied, walking away.

"_ARE YOU MAD!?"_ Lelouch shouted from behind the mask. "_The only reason they're giving you a trail is to find you GUILTY! THE JUDGE, THE PROSECUTION AND DEFENCE!"_

"Maybe so, but rules are rules." Suzaku said. "And if I don't go, they'll start cracking down on Elevens… AND Honorary Britannians…"

"_BUT YOU'LL DIE!"_

"I don't mind."

"_DON'T BE AN IDIOT!"_

"And old friend of mine used to tell me that." Suzaku replied. "He used to say I was a fool."

Lelouch gasped. "It's my weakness I guess." Suzaku continued, turning to face Zero. "I'd try to bring you in, but you'd just end up killing me. And if I'm going to die, it's going to be in the service of the people." He turned away and began to leave again. "Even so, I thank you for saving me."

'_You… fool…'_ Lelouch said to himself through gritted teeth.

* * *

That night, Suzaku Kurugi was found innocent of all charges, and returned to his previous position in the military.

However, that's not all that happened that night.

The world came to know the masked trainer named Zero, but they had yet to grasp just what he was capable of.

In fact, the one person who had the closest hint of what he was capable of was the green haired girl entering Lelouch's home, holding her jirachi close to her chest.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Dadadum, dadadum, dadaDADADADADDA, End theme.

Yeah, this shall be fun.

That's the kind of trainer I see Lelouch as being. Not afraid to do what other people would consider 'cheating', but he'd call it strategy, or combining moves for the greatest effect.

So, until next time, enjoy!


	4. The Witch and The Knight

Damn I am on a roll with this idea.

Also, turns out I can access anime videos during my free periods at school, so now we get more depth and detail!

So, yeah. Chapter time.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

So when Lelouch returned home from Suzaku's rescue, he wanted nothing more than to tuck Nunnally in bed and to pass out on the couch.

"Welcome home, Lelouch."

He was not expecting to see his little sister making origami with the green haired girl that took a bullet to the head and gave him the power of Geass three days ago.

"Welcome home, big brother!" Nunnally greeted.

"From the look of you, you've already eaten, right?" The green haired girl asked him, placing a blue paper fearow onto the table.

"I was so worried," Nunnally told her brother, whose brain had detected an error and had to shut down. "I thought you might have been caught up in that whole Zero business. I tried calling you, but it wouldn't connect."

Lelouch didn't say anything. His brain had blue screened pretty badly.

"Brother, C.C. took the trouble to come all the way here." Nunnally pointed out as the green haired girl began folding a new sheet of paper.

"C.C.?" Lelouch asked, his brain finally beginning to reboot.

Nunnally giggled. "You have an awfully interesting friend." She said. "To think she goes by her initials alone!"

"Yeah…" Lelouch managed, his brain now asking for his username and password.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Nunnally asked just as he was logging in.

"We're promised to one another, aren't we?" C.C. asked.

"Eh?" Lelouch asked, his brain now asking if he forgot the password, or left caps lock on.

"Promised?" Nunnally asked as Lelouch rapidly worked on regaining his brain, "You're getting married?"

"No!" Lelouch managed, his brain accepting his password. "No, that's not it. She's just joking."

"I hate jokes." C.C. told him, folding the paper carefully.

"I see…" Nunnally said as Lelouch began walking towards the table. "You're taking things awfully fast… But as they say, 'each to his own'." Lelouch picked up a teacup and held it above the carpet. "I suppose that's just how you operate-"

SMASH

"Ah, C.C., what're you doing?" Lelouch asked, grabbing the green haired girl by the arm. "You're all wet. We'll have to go to the bathroom." He said not-too subtly as he dragged her away from his sister. "I'll have to get you a change of clothes. I'll clean that up Nunnally," Lelouch told his sister as he led C.C. out the door. "Don't move. Oh, and that _was_ a lie back there. A joke even!"

* * *

"Who are you?" Lelouch interrogated C.C., pushing her into his bedroom.

"Didn't I say?" She asked. "I'm C.C.."

"That's not what I meant." Lelouch said. "You-"

"Should be dead?" C.C. asked with a smile. Lelouch stared at her, caught off guard, and the mysterious girl's smile deepened into a smirk. "So, do you like the power I gave you?"

"So it was you." Lelouch glared, activating his Geass.

"Unsatisfied?" She asked, slumping onto his bed.

"No, I'm actually very grateful." Lelouch told her. "You've accelerated my plans more than I could have hoped."

"Plans?" C.C. asked.

"My plans to take down the Britannian Empire." Lelouch explained. "I thought that it would be much later in my life that I could achieve that."

"You think you can do it with nothing more than that power?" C.C. asked him, laying back on his bed.

"I intended to, even without it." Lelouch replied.

C.C. turned her head. "As I thought, you're an interesting man."

"So, what're you going to do now?" Lelouch asked her. "The army is after you, isn't it?"

"Only a small part of it." C.C. replied. "I'll be fine with normal protective measures and Jiro."

"Jiro?" Lelouch asked, turning to see a jirachi float up behind him. "Uwah!"

Then he heard the unmistakable sound of clothes hitting the floor. "I'll make do here."

Lelouch turned around. "Hey, you're going to stay here!?"

C.C. was tucked in his bed. "Boys get to sleep on the floor." She said.

"That's not what I meant." Lelouch glared.

"If I get caught, won't you be in trouble too?" C.C. reasoned.

"We'll be in more danger if we stick together." Lelouch responded, getting on his bed and moving over her.

"If I sleep outside, I'll be arrested." C.C. pointed out.

"I don't care about you." Lelouch told her. "I just want to ha-"

"And you call yourself a pokémon trainer." C.C. interrupted, rolling over in the sheets. "Such persistence annoys me."

Lelouch realised he wasn't going to win this one, so he moved back and sat on the wooden floor. "You have no sense of urgency… at any rate, how are you still alive?" He asked, arranging her clothes into a pile. "You were shot. And what was that whole contract deal I entered-"

"Goodnight, Lelouch." C.C. told him.

Lelouch glared, then sighed, leaving his bedroom to go look after Nunnally.

He'd be sleeping on the couch tonight.

* * *

A few days later, and Zero was more infamous than ever.

Suzaku had been found innocent of everything, while Jeremiah was under suspicion about the accusations of his affiliation with the so called 'Dunsparce' incident.

"So, what was that whole 'Dunsparce' thing, anyway?" C.C. asked him, eating pizza while wearing one of his shirts.

"Yet, you refuse to answer any of my questions…" Lelouch sighed "Dunsparce was just a ruse. It's an obscure enough pokémon to be used for something to be covered up, so it was easy to use it to shake their trust in one another."

C.C. looked at the newspaper articles and magazines' talking about Lelouch's masked alter-ego. "The whole world is looking for you…" She pointed out. "The world is moving at your bidding… Lelouch, is this what you wanted?"

"Nope." Lelouch replied, pulling on his school uniform. "The confusion is just part of the plan." He looked at her. "I will throw the world into a much greater chaos."

* * *

"Lelouch, may I have a moment?"

Lelouch looked up from his laptop to see Kallen. "Sure, what do you need?" He asked.

"It's… about that phone call the other day…" Kallen told him, playing the part of the weak girl perfectly.

"Phone call?" He asked. "Oh, you mean in the-"

"Yeah, that one." Kallen nodded, interrupting him before the matter of the shower fiasco could be raised again. "Do you know who it was who called?" She asked. "I'd… like to speak with him again."

"Well, it's a school phone." Lelouch explained, closing his computer. "I really have no way of-"

C.C. was dressed in Lelouch's clothes, dancing around the school gardens.

'_Blast.'_

"Ah, I thought so…" Kallen said with disappointment, turning away. "Well, I'll see-"

Lelouch stood up and grabbed her face, holding her close to him until C.C. got the message and left.

Unbeknownst to him, Shirley happened to be passing a corridor behind him and saw the two before jumping back and covering her mouth.

"Hey…" Kallen asked Lelouch. "What're you doing?"

"Hm?" Lelouch asked. "I… uh… I honestly have no idea." He confessed.

* * *

"Are you some kind of idiot!?" Lelouch shouted at C.C. as he dragged her to the roof. "Don't go out like that!"

"I should be able to walk around the school." C.C. replied dismissively, wandering off. "Don't be such a feebas."

"No." Lelouch snapped. "You'd be considered an intruder here."

"The same would be true wherever I went." C.C. sighed, leaning over the balcony. "Huh? What's up with her?"

"Oh, her?" Lelouch added, walking over beside C.C. "She's still at it?"

"Still?"

"Yeah." Lelouch nodded. "I geassed her to have her order her smeargle make a mark on that wall every day."

"Geass?" C.C. asked him.

"My power." Lelouch explained. "That's what you called it, isn't it?"

C.C. smirked. "Testing how long it lasts?" She asked.

"A trainer has to know the stats of his pokémon, so the same goes for Geass." Lelouch stated. "It has only one PP, so I need to know just what it can do." He sighed. "So far, I know that she's stopped using her pokémon for painting in order to preserve the paint, and she won't let her smeargle to take too much damage in battle so she can make the sign the next day."

"You must be impressed." C.C. said.

"Concerned." Lelouch corrected. "If I were to word a command badly, then I could end someone's life, one way or another. By the looks of things, that girl will never be able to move far from Ashford Academy." He glanced at C.C. "By the way, if you start becoming a nuisance-"

"Will it work on me, I wonder?" C.C. pondered aloud, before leaning back to look at Lelouch upside-down. "Don't worry, we're accomplices here." She told him. "I won't do anything that would negatively affect us."

* * *

"To use Geass, one has to look directly into the target's eyes." Lelouch noted back in his room as C.C. dressed back into her white robes. "The refraction resulting from glasses is no problem. Its effective range is 270 metres, and the target retains a gap in their memory both when the order was given and when it was carried out. I believe that this is due to the damage caused by the Geass when it enters the brain. Due to their differing brain structures, Geass has no effect on Pokémon. Since the information is transmitted via light, it is also possible to reflect it, even reflecting it through pokémon attack such as Reflect, or Mirror Coat. However, the Geass cannot be replicated by a pokémon using mirror move or mimic."

"You've managed to discover a lot about your ability in a very short space of time." C.C. complimented, fastening her straps as Lelouch stood up from his chair and walked towards the window.

"My enemy is an empire that encompasses more than a third of the world's population." Lelouch replied, looking out at Sayako and Nunnally in the garden as a skitty bounded up to them and leapt onto Nunnally's lap. "I cannot be too careful."

"Elevens are one thing, but you're up against the Britannian Empire." C.C. told Lelouch as he gazed out the window. "It's far too vast and strong to fight against with nothing more that a party of Pokémon and a single Geass."

Lelouch smiled. "The bigger they are, the more damage low kick does."

His smile vanished quickly though, and he sighed. "Brittania regards the importance of strength above all else. Is it so bad to be weak and innocent?" He asked. "When I was ten years old, the world was a dark place. Hunger, disease, corruption, depravity, discrimination, war and terrorism… the hateful cycle repeats itself again and again."

"The same foolish repetition." He glared. "Someone has to stop the cycle."

"What a nice thought." C.C. commented offhand with a twirl.

"Of course, the one who does should not have to lose everything." Lelouch told her, moving beside his table and toying idly with the chess pieces set up on the board. "I'm not so arrogant. So… I want to at least keep those whom I hold dear. To give them a world without war." He picked up the black king and contemplated it casually.

"Oh?" C.C. asked. "How would you create such a perfect world?"

Lelouch grinned. "That's easy," he told her, knocking the white king over with a flick of the piece in his hand. "If someone wins, the war ends."

"And who would that be?" C.C. asked.

Lelouch almost laughed, placing the black king firmly in the centre of the board. "Another easy question."

* * *

The next day, he fell asleep during class, as he often does.

"Hey, Lulu, wake up."

"Buh, wha?" Lelouch asked, swiping Rivalz hand off him as he remembered that he was in a lesson, with a very familiar face standing at the front of the class.

"I'm transferring to Ashford Academy as of today." The new student introduced. "My name is Suzaku Kururugi. It's nice to meet all of you."

* * *

Suzaku was the talk of the classroom that afternoon, and not in the good way.

Rumours of him murdering Prince Clovis and being a terrorist were only the nicer ones.

Lelouch made a point to walk past him without giving a second glance, only to tug on his collar as he left the room.

Thankfully, Suzaku still understood the sign language for 'Meet me on the roof.'

"It's been seven years since we've used that sign, hasn't it?" Lelouch asked his friend.

"Yeah…" Suzaku reminisced as he walked over to the balcony beside his friend. "I'm glad to see you're alright."

"Thanks to you." Lelouch smiled, before turning serious. "If you hadn't taken that bullet for me…"

"I was just returning the favour you did me seven years ago." Suzaku replied pleasantly.

Lelouch looked away, almost in shame. "Oh yeah, that girl, the one in the bigass pokéball." Suzaku remembered. "What happened to her?"

"We got separated in the confusion." Lelouch lied, trying to keep all information about C.C. as secret as possible, at least for now. "Don't you know anything about her?"

"No," Suzaku replied sadly. "Only the group from Silph knew anything…"

"I see…" Lelouch sighed.

"Hey, can I still call you Lelouch?" Suzaku asked.

"My old self is on record as being dead." Lelouch told him. "I'm Lelouch Lamperouge now."

"I see…" Suzaku nodded.

"And what about your court martial?" Lelouch asked. "In fact, what are you even doing here!?"

"I'm surprised to." Suzaku laughed. "I didn't expect to see you here Lelouch. Well, there was someone who ensured that the investigation was done properly." He said. "She said that seventeen year-olds should be in school."

Lelouch smiled. "Speaking of kind women, there's another one who would like to see you."

Suzaku smiled. "I'd like to see Nunnally too."

"But, before we do, can you satisfy my curiosity?" Lelouch asked. "That Zero guy said that whatever was inside that pokéball was yours, and you reacted somewhat… extremely for it to have just been a bluff with no weight."

Suzaku looked down. "I… can't really talk about it… but there's a really powerful Pokémon that no-one can control, but it seems to like me for some reason."

"I see…" Lelouch nodded. "Well, if it's surrounded by Britannians, then you must be a saint in this pokémon's eyes."

"I'm sure that's not it." Suzaku laughed. "But like I said, I really, can't talk about it, sorry Lelouch."

"It's fine, I understand." Lelouch replied with a smile, bringing an arm around his friend's shoulder. "Just let me battle it sometime, please!?"

Suzaku laughed. "Same old Lelouch…" He laughed. "Still got that riolu I gave you?" He asked.

"Now it's the strongest Lucario in the city." Lelouch laughed. "And don't get me started on my charizard and alakazam."

* * *

"I'm home brother." Nunnally announced as Sayako pushed her into the dining room.

"Welcome back, Nunnally, Sayako." Lelouch said as he stood up. "I have a present for you today Nunnally."

"Well, I wonder what it could be?" Nunnally asked.

Lelouch smiled and signalled for Sayako to be quiet, then waved Suzaku over. Suzaku walked over silently, looked to Lelouch, then gingerly took Nunnally's hand.

She gasped, and grabbed his hand with both of hers. "This hand… Suzaku!?"

Suzaku smiled. "It's good to see you again, Nunnally."

She held his knuckle to her tear-stained cheeks as she started crying, overjoyed. "I'm so glad you're safe…"

* * *

"You can stay the night, won't you Suzaku?" Nunnally asked once it began to get dark.

Lelouch knew better than to wonder how she knew, it was just one of those things. "Suzaku is a student here now." Lelouch explained to her. "So you can see him any time you like."

"Really?" Nunnally asked Suzaku, turning to face him.

"I still have work with the army, so maybe not every day." Suzaku explained.

"You're still in the army then..?" she asked him, her face falling.

"It's fine." He told her. "I was transferred to the breeding corps, so I'm not in much danger."

'_Breeding corps?'_ Lelouch thought, but then it clicked. _'Ah, they want to see why that Mewtwo obeys him…'_

Lelouch stood up to get the tea, and Suzaku quickly followed. "Sit down." Lelouch told him with a grin. "Unlike seven years ago, I'm the host here."

Suzaku was surprised, but returned to his seat with a smile. "It seems you've been working on your manners," he said to Lelouch.

Lelouch laughed. "And you on your wit," he retorted, making Suzaku laugh in turn.

"Yeah, yeah." Lelouch groaned, taking the teapot out into the kitchen. "I thought I told you to stay in my room?" he asked quietly, seeing C.C. inside the darkened room.

"That's the Britannian soldier we met in Shinjuku, isn't he?" C.C. asked, feeding her jirachi a banana. "Is he alright?"

"He's fine." Lelouch told her, setting the teapot down. "He's… my friend."

* * *

"Come over anytime." Lelouch told Suzaku as he saw him out. "Nunnally will always be glad for you to visit."

"Thank you, but, Lelouch?" Suzaku asked him. "Let's pretend not to know each other at school."

"Why?" Lelouch asked, shocked.

"How would you explain being friends with a former Eleven?" Suzaku reasoned. "If we're not careful, it would come to light that you're a prince. Nunnally too…" Suzaku added, looking down. "I don't want to cause either of you any trouble."

Lelouch punched Suzaku in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. "So you're just going to pretend?" he shouted. "Come on, that's not like you… damn!" he swore, nursing his wrist. "Is your gut made of iron or something?"

"Sit ups…" Suzaku grunted, returning to full height. "I recommend them."

"I do fifty a day…" Lelouch pointed out.

"Well, that's the difference between fifty and five hundred!" Suzaku grinned.

"How're your pokémon?" Lelouch stabbed, and Suzaku shut up.

"Hey, thanks for having me over." Suzaku told his friend, turning away to walk down the stairs. "It was fun. I'll see you tomorrow."

He stopped. "What's wrong?" Lelouch asked him, letting his hand drop.

"I'm so happy."

"Eh?"

"I never thought I'd see you again…" Suzaku explained before setting off walking again.

* * *

People were silenced as soon as Suzaku walked past them in the hallways, or entered the classroom.

Lelouch saw Suzaku washing paint out of his P.E. kit after talking with Ohgi over the phone about the falling strength of the rest of Team Rocket, and was shocked at the trouble people went to just to torment his friend.

That afternoon, when the dealings with Sableye were sorted, he mused with Nunally on what he could do to help his friend.

Of course, he never suspected that the solution to Suzaku's school problems would come in the form of a meowth wearing Zero's helmet.

"Huwa!?" Lelouch screamed when he saw the cat run past. "HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!"

"Eh, what?" Nunnally asked as her brother ran out of the room.

* * *

Lelouch's legs worked almost as hard as his mind. In his haste he'd left all his pokémon back at the house, so he pursued the hell out of that cat and thought of plan after useless plan in vain attempts to capture it.

He had to silence a few people in order to protect his identity too, but his real problems started when Milly Ashford declared a school-wide hunt for a meowth holding something precious to Lelouch Lamperouge. Whoever brought it to her first would get a shiny pidgey from her own collection.

And if that wasn't enough, the winner would get the chance to kiss the student council member of their choice.

Lelouch wasn't that worried about having to kiss some girl, but his main concern was that Rivalz has a motorbike and a huge crush on Milly, Kallen would never let the winner kiss her and would do everything she could to catch the cat with her own pokémon, and she would put two and two together and work out that Lelouch was Zero.

While Shirley was equally prideful and had her fair share of water pokémon, Lelouch could still Geass her so it wasn't so dangerous, but the fact that the student council happened to contain the most attractive men and women in the school meant that whoever wasn't after the shiny pidgey would be after the blasted meowth anyway.

It really, really should not have been able to get more dire for Lelouch.

"Arthur, return!"

The meowth turned into red light and flew into Suzaku's friend ball just as Lelouch ran past him. "SUZAKU!?" He shouted.

"Alright, I got him." Suzaku sighed. "We can get it back for you now-"

"EEEYOINK!!" A blur of blue passed them and the pokeball vanished from Suzaku's hand.

"RIVALZ!!" Lelouch shouted, before running at full pelt after the motor-bike. "Damn…"

He wasn't the only one after Rivalz, however. The riding team, racing on their ponytas and arcanines quickly overtook the running teen, and Lelouch could see other students calling forward their flying pokemon to give chase as well.

Then he saw his chance.

"You there!" He shouted, blocking a member of the flying club. "**Give me your aerodactyl.**"

"Sure thing mate." The student said, disembarking and handing Lelouch a pokéball. He vaulted onto the revived fossil and ordering it to pursue Rivalz.

"HYDRO PUMP!" a familiar female voice called out.

"Eh?" Lelouch managed before getting hurled off the pokémon by a powerful blast of water, only to get caught by an altaria.

"LELOUCH!" Suzaku shouted, running up to him. "Are you alright!"

"I'm fine." Suzaku managed, returning the fainted aerodactyl. "But I need to get that ball back before Rivalz, or anyone else opens it."

**BOOM**

A shockwave rippled out around the school, knocking over all the pursuing pokemon in the distance. Lelouch looked over to the right to see a gray lizard… _thing_ charge forward, the friend ball clutched in its paw. "Thank you Lancelot." Suzaku told the pokémon, reaching out for the ball. "But, shouldn't you be back in the lab?"

The pokémon just looked at Suzaku, and handed the pokéball to Lelouch. Lelouch stared in mute shock at this bizarre turn of events before the creature jerked its paw, sending him flying onto the roof. "HEY! LANCELOT!" Suzaku shouted

Lelouch silently muttered his thanks, opening the pokéball in private and retrieving the mask before the pokemon could react, folding it up and placing it inside his school uniform before recalling the pesky meowth.

"I oughta…" Lelouch growled as Suzaku floated up to the rooftop with the pokémon. "Now what the hell is that thing?" Lelouch asked Suzaku.

"This…" Suzaku hesitated, before sighing. "This is the pokémon I'm not allowed to tell you about, mewtwo." Suzaku explained.

"Thank you very much Lancelot." Lelouch said, being very, very grateful to the pokémon and handing the pokéball to Suzaku. "I retrieved what your pokémon stole from me."

"I'm guessing it's not for me to know huh?" Suzaku laughed, recalling the mewtwo into his master ball as Shirley and Kallen ran up the steps.

"No, it's not." Lelouch laughed, turning to the two girls. "It's fine, Suzaku's got the cat."

"What!?" Shirley shouted. "I have to kiss him!?"

Kallen flinched at the thought as Suzaku just said "Eh?"

Lelouch sighed. "Student council president said that you can kiss any member of the student council you want if you hand the cat over to her." He explained. "Also, a shiny pidgey."

"Ah, okay." Suzaku nodded, pocketing the pokéball. "Sounds like exactly the kind of person I don't want to give Arthur to… why are you bottomless?" He asked, suddenly noticing Shirley was wearing a swimming costume and a school blazer, but nothing else.

"And thus everyone's lips are safe." Lelouch laughed, swinging an arm around his friend's neck and turning him around. "_Now run._"

"Eh?" He asked as Lelouch ran like hell for the other staircase down from the roof as Shirley unleashed her empoleon's wrath.

* * *

Suzaku was then welcomed into the school student council with open arms from all but Nina, who didn't complain loud enough to be noticed by anyone.

People stopped actively bullying Suzaku, not that he was bothered by it, but people still stopped their conversations when the Elevener walked past.

But Lelouch was more than satisfied. There were four people in this school who accepted Suzaku other than his sister and himself. That was enough.

And in the end, all was well, and Lelouch was almost satisfied until the school gathered in memorial of the late Prince Clovis, and he was reminded of who he was against.

_\_ "All men… are NOT created equal!" _\_ Emperor Charles of Britannia bellowed on the screen. _\_ "Some are born smarter, or more beautiful, or with parents of greater status. Some, by contrast, are born weak of body or mind, or with few, if any, talents. All men are different!"  
_\_ "Yes, the very existence of man is discriminatory! That's why there is war, violence and unrest. Inequality is not evil. Equality is! What became of the EU, who claimed that all are equal? It is in constant conflict because its tenets go against human nature! The Middle Eastern Federation, which harbours similar sentiments, is constantly mired with sloth's!"  
_\_ "But our Britannia is not like them! We put an end to wars and evolve with every conquest! Britannia alone looks forward and moves forward to a better future! The death of my son Clovis is yet more proof that our empire is evolving. Fight! For the future rests in the hands of its ruler! _**ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!!!!!**_" _\_

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Yeah, I'll leave it there. It's a good place to end it.

So, who's looking forward to the next chapter? I sure am.

And Damn, three chapters in two days? I am on a roll!


	5. Attack Cornelia

Alright everyone! New chapter time!

First off, Shrill-Tastic has done a fantastic story called "To Hell With Igor, Let's Gattai!". It's incredibly, incredibly manly and is based on Fairly English Story, so you know it's good. You can find the link in my favourites, I highly recommend it.

Greifen, Pokémon were used instead of warmechs. Guns came about from cannons, which were meant to blow large holes in things, but then they got downsized. In my story, guns are only a secondary weapon for if the other guy beat your pokémon, or to give a soldier something to do while his pokémon's kick ass. I can argue that guns exist in the pokémon universe because of that one episode in the anime, but I digress.  
I'm still working with this whole idea, so bear with me. And if you're a country that's been fighting off Vikings and the French since the Romans left you, wouldn't you use the local dragons to make war a little easier for you?

And this chapter starts with a flashback, and ends in a battle that I wrote to Brianstorm by the Arctic Monkeys. Hooray!

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_The huge doors to the throne room opened, and he guard made his announcement. "I present unto you, Lelouch Vi Britannia, Eleventh prince of Britannia!"_

_The young boy Lelouch strode down the red carpet in his cape as whispers grew around him._

"_I heard Empress Marianne was killed in Britannia's castle."_

"_A terrorist would have had a hard time getting in there."_

"_Then, who was behind it?"_

"_My, my, it's frightening just thinking about it."_

"_Still, he's doing well, considering that it's his mother that's just been killed."_

"_However, Lord Lelouch no longer has any chance of seizing the crown."_

"_His mothers family, the Ashfords, are ruined." _

"_What about his sister, the princess?"_

"_I hear she was shot in the legs, and is unable to see."_

"_They say that part is a psychological illness."_

"_It doesn't matter. She'll be useless in the political arena anyway."_

"_My Lord Emperor." Lelouch declared. "My mother is dead."_

"_What of it?" Asked the bored emperor._

"_What of it!?" Lelouch shouted angrily. _

"_You sought an audience with the Emperor of Britannia simply to tell me that?" The emperor asked, as if he had better things to do. He turned to his aide. "Bring me the next supplicant." He ordered. "I haven't the time to entertain children."_

"_FATHER!" Lelouch shouted, running forward, guards running forward with their scyther-bladed halberds._

_The emperor waved them away. "YES! Your majesty!"_

"_Why didn't you protect my mother!?" Lelouch shouted in rage. "You're the emperor, aren't you!? You're the most powerful man in this country, are you not!? You should AT LEAST SEE NUNNALLY IN THE HOSPITAL!!"_

"_I have no need for the weak." The emperor said dismissively._

"_W-weak..?" Lelouch gasped._

"_That is the nature of the royal family." He explained to his son._

_Lelouch looked down, biting his lip in anger, then glared at his father, the emperor. "Then I renounce my title!"_

_The audience gasped in shock at the child's impudence. Renouncing his claim to the throne? It's madness!_

"_I've had enough of being your successor!" Lelouch shouted. "And I've had enough of getting caught up in your petty squabbles!"_

"_You are dead." The Emperor sighed._

"_Eh?" Lelouch gasped._

"_You have been dead from the moment you were born." The emperor explained. "Who gave you those clothes you wear? Your home? Your food? Even your life! I GAVE THEM ALL TO YOU! YOU HAVE NOT LIVED FOR A SINGLE MOMENT! HOW FOOLISH CAN YOU BE!?"_

_The emperor stood up from his throne and Lelouch fell back, squealing in fear. "Lelouch." The emperor glared. "A dead man has no rights. You will go to Japan with Nunnally. A prince and a princess should make good bargaining chips."_

Lelouch sat on his bed with his head hung low. C.C. was sleeping silently beside him, but he couldn't sleep.

Not with these memories echoing inside his skull.

* * *

_\_ "The military are currently surrounding the Saitama Ghetto." _\_ The anchorwoman on the news reported. _\_ "Entry into the area is forbidden by order of the Vicereine Cornelia." _\_

Lelouch stormed into his bedroom just as Jiro the jirachi was helping C.C. place a stamp onto her Pizza Hut loyalty card. "Hm? What's with the scary face?" C.C. asked. "Trying to slow something down?"

_\_ "We've received word that the attack will begin in two hours." _\_ The woman on the news continued. _\_ "Citizens of neighbouring areas are-" _\_

Lelouch turned the TV off. "They're re-creating a situation much like the one in Shinjuku." Lelouch told her, walking towards a briefcase and pulling out some clothing. "In an effort to draw out Zero. They're hoping that if I have any ego at all, I'll rush in and try to kill Cornelia."

"And you're rising to the bait like a magikarp to an Old Rod." C.C. noted with interest.

"They've taken the trouble to invite me, after all." Lelouch smiled. "There's also a great deal I'd like to ask Cornelia."

"Which do you think is more important?" C.C. asked. "Destroying Britannia or finding you mother's killer?"

"Those two are one and the same." Lelouch answered. "The royal family fights within itself, in order to decide who is the most worthy to ascend to the throne. No…" Lelouch added, glaring at his memories. "That man _makes_ them fight."

"But that is the strength of the Britannian Empire." C.C. argued wearily. "The strongest of them wins out, and becomes the next emperor."

"Yes." Lelouch nodded. "The weak are cast out and crushed into oblivion. That's just the kind of country Britannia is. The kind of _World_ this is."

"Survival of the fittest is the natural law of nature." C.C. pointed out. "That's why pokémon battle each other: to determine which is the most fit to survive, and to make each other more fit to-"

"Then What About Nunnally!?" Lelouch growled, slamming his briefcase shut. "Am I to abandon her simply because she is weak!? _I will never do that!_" Lelouch stood to his feet. "I will destroy that world for-"

Click

Lelouch looked at C.C. in shock, seeing the handgun she was aiming for his chest.

"Don't go Lelouch." She told him. "I cannot have you dying before you fulfil our agreement."

"Don't you think that what you're doing is rather counter-productive?" Lelouch asked her.

"I will not kill you." C.C. promised. "I'll simply shoot you in the leg so you can't go anywhere."

"I see." Lelouch smiled. "You can't use the Geass, can you?"

"…"

"I thought not." Lelouch said with a smirk. "If you could do it yourself, you wouldn't have to ask me," He pulled a gun out of his pocket and aimed it at her. "Would you?"

"Do you think I fear guns?" C.C. asked him.

"Of course you do." Lelouch told her, aiming the gun at his own temple, ready to summon his Persona.

C.C. gasped, and Lelouch pressed his advantage. "I was dead until the moment I met you." He told her. "I was a powerless corpse that was pretending to be alive, like a shedinja in his husk of a shell, faking life until the moment it is touched. Living without power, without the ability to change my course, was akin to a slow death." His finger tensed on the trigger. "If I have to live as I did back then…"

"Wait!" C.C. shouted, lowering her gun. Lelouch slowly did the same, and C.C. continued. "Certainly, such a life would be meaningless…" She told him sadly.

* * *

'_It's exactly the same'_ Lelouch thought to himself as he saw the bloodshed below. _'Britannia hasn't changed.' _

A golem used Rock Climb and an officer climbed up to Lelouch. "What unit do you belong to?" He demanded from behind the scanner covering his eyes from Lelouch's Geass. "Give me your name and your ID number."

"My name is Brian Rockwell of the 3rd unit." Lelouch lied as his sneasel rushed out and stole the officer's scanner. "But I want you to **sit on your pokémon for twenty seconds and then order your golem to use Explosion**."

"Understood." The soldier saluted, sitting on his pokémon patiently as Lelouch legged it, putting the scanner over his eyes and looking over the situation before formulating a plan of action and putting the radio to his mouth.

"_My name is Zero."_ He said in his Zero voice as the rock pokémon exploded, killing its rider in the blast. _"You should know of the Shinjuku incident. Obey me, and you will live."_

* * *

Lelouch watched the two tracking numbers of the two officer trainers blink out on his scanner screen as they were killed. "Now then, shall I draw Cornelia out?" He asked himself. "Or create an opening to get her myself?"

Lelouch noticed a collection of enemy soldiers gathering and turned on his radio. "R-1, R-2, fall back." He ordered. "Draw the enemy towards N-2. B-7, focus your attacks at two-O'clock. P-5, order your pokémon to attack now."

"N-2, attack at three-O'clock." Lelouch continued. "R-4, launch a flamethrower. N-1, start from the left." He smiled. "Alright then, P-3, use Rock Smash to destroy the bridge and cut off their retreat."

* * *

_\_ "All units! Fall back!" _\_ Came the order in Lelouch's scanner. _\_ "Repeat! All units to fall back immediately!" _\_

'_How spineless.'_ Lelouch thought to himself. _'Now, if I can sneak into one of the retreating units…'_ He tapped his eye piece. "I'll be right next to you, Cornelia. The situation is clear."

* * *

'_Cornelia.'_ Lelouch thought to himself as he slipped the scanner into his pocket and joined the retreating units. _'You will lose this one.' _He smirked to himself. _'Even with the Geass, it would be far too difficult to penetrate this many layers of security. I'll have to make a way for myself, like with Clovis.'_

Then his phone started ringing, and he checked it surreptitiously. _'The student council room?' _He asked. _'I thought our cat festival wasn't until tomorrow… My umbreon costume's still being cleaned…'_

Then the other end hung up. _'Hm?' _Lelouch thought to himself, pocketing the phone in confusion. '_Well, whatever.'_

He then looked around as the black armoured trainers rode in on their rhydon's. _'You must be desperate, Cornelia.'_ Lelouch thought. _'To mobilise your group to salvage the situation.'_

He activated the hands-free on his radio and lowered his head. "_This is Zero."_ He whispered, thankful for the stampeding pokémon almost drowning out his voice. "_N-1, activate the tracker in the Britannian uniform you stole and act like a Britannian soldier_."

_\_ "Understood." _\_

'_He'll be the bait.'_ Lelouch thought with a smirk, glancing down at the scanner he held low, only to raise an eyebrow as N-1 was killed by three trainers. _'They didn't bother trying to confirm his identity?'_ Lelouch asked himself.

'_Then…'_ Lelouch activated his radio again. "_N-2"_ He whispered. "_Activate your tracker and retreat towards the pokémon centre. R-1 and R-2, lie in wait and ambush the oncoming enemy."_

Lelouch glanced down again and glared as the Britannian units spread out. _'They're not taking the bait?'_ He asked internally. _'Bugger.' "R-1, R-2, you've been made!"_ Lelouch hissed, breaking out of the ranks of the retreated soldiers. _"Retreat immediately!"_

Lelouch kept walking, glancing down to see the Japanese units under his command flee before they were surrounded. "_P-2, N-3, encircle the enemy from the rear."_ He ordered. He would be more specific, but he didn't know the pokémon of his subordinates or his enemies.

Wait, yes he did. _"Focus on using water and grass attacks. They are riding rhydons."_ He ordered.

Silence.

"_What's the matter?" _He asked. _"Respond! P-2! N-3!" _They weren't there. "_Damn! B-1, B-5, you'll have to go!"_

They were all surrendering. All begging for a mercy that Cornelia would never give them.

"_P-6, P-8!"_ Lelouch begged. "_What happened!?" _

Because the one thing that woman despised more than terrorists.

Cowards.

Lelouch grunted. "_P-7! Give cover for N-4!"_

__\_ "This is B-7! I've found the other prey!" _\_ _The rebel reported. _\_ _"I'll take him out first!"_

"NO!" Lelouch shouted, not bothering to disguise his voice. "_He's a decoy! Follow my orders B-7!"_

_\_ _"What're you talking about?" _\_ _ The power-hungry rebel hissed. _\_ _"I gotta take him out now!" _\__

"_Get back!" _Lelouch shouted. "_He'll just come at you from above with a Sky Attack! Listen to my-"_

He was dead.

'_Idiot…_' Lelouch thought to himself, before activating his radio again. "_B-8, what is your situation?"_

_\_ "Situation?" _\_ The rebel shouted in panic. _\_ "I'm- AARGGH!!" _\_

"B-8!" Lelouch shouted, before remembering himself. "_Whoever's left, sound off in P-numbers."_

**PING**

Lelouch looked up as the announcement rang. _\_ "Mission complete. All units, enter formation four." _\_

'_They won?'_ Lelouch thought angrily. '_So easily!? This couldn't even be called a battle… This organisation was far too dissimilar…'_

_\_ "ALL SOLDIERS!" _\_ Cornelia's voice blared from the speakers. _\_ "Remove your helmets and Show your faces!" _\_

The world turned black for Lelouch, who was overcome with rage. _'Cornelia!!'_

_\_ "I repeat, All soldiers remove your helmets and show your faces!"

'_What will I do?'_ Lelouch thought with all the brain power he had. _'Even without Zero's mask, my identity will be revealed. I cannot allow that. I'll have to use the Geass- no, that doesn't work without a direct line of sight. I can make one of the other soldiers confess- no, there's too many and I'll be caught before I can do it. Will it be possible? What if I tell them I'm Zero?' _

'_No, that's no good.' _Lelouch decided. _'I'll have to risk everything in a full-frontal attack, no, that's impossible. Against Cornelia's trainer soldier's that'd be suicide.'_

'_So that's Cornelia… What can I do..?'_

"_Perhaps you could use my assistance, my accomplice?"_

Lelouch turned around to see Zero. He almost had a heart attack, but Zero removed his mask and turned out to be C.C. "Why are you here?" Lelouch asked her.

"Didn't I tell you?" She replied, flicking her hair back. "I can't have you dying."

"Had my men been the same, I would have won!" Lelouch argued.

"You're a sore loser." C.C. noted, turning around. "Part of your power is to make such things possible."

"Then make them I shall." Lelouch told her. "I'll make them superior to Britannia! My army… My Trainers, My Pokémon, My Country!"

And a plan formed. "Give me the mask, cape and snag-arm." Lelouch told C.C. "And thank you."

"Hm?" She asked as Lelouch took the helmet from her and replaced his soldier's one for that. "What for?" She unclipped the cape and handed it to him.

"_For allowing me to regain my victory."_ Zero told her, clipping on his cape and attaching his snag-arm over his Britannian armour. "_Hm, I don't dislike the feel to this…"_

"ZERO!" One soldier shouted as Lelouch turned around and activated his Geass.

"_**Give me a Flying pokémon and leave.**__" _Zero ordered the man.

"Yes sir." The soldier saluted, sending out a crobat and tossing the pokéball to Zero. "Take good care of him."

Zero gripped the ball in his snag arm and returned the crobat. "_Oh, I will."_

* * *

"_CORNELIA!"_

The Britannian unit saw Zero standing atop a crobat posing in the sky. He then tucked his cape to his side tight and leapt head-first from the flying bat pokémon, hurtling himself towards the ground like a comet.

He then dropped a pokéball and flipped in the sky, spreading his cape to slow his descent, though not enough in itself to save his life, it made it easier for him to land on his stolen metagross and catch the ball on the bounce as the pokémon span in the air towards the command centre of Cornelia's mobile base.

Everyone except Cornelia and a scarred man flinched from the glass as the window shattered as the steel arms broke through, Lelouch drawing a sword and slashing at his sister, who blocked with her own cutlass.

"Zero…" Cornelia grunted.

"_My dear Cornelia."_ Lelouch smirked under his mask. "_Congratulations on your performance on the battle so far."_

"WAIT FOR MY ORDER!" Cornelia shouted at her underlings as she pushed Zero away from her, getting to her feet. "And I assume you now desire to take my life and assume that'd make it your victory?" She asked Zero.

"_The battle today was undoubtedly your victory." _Zero announced, spreading his arms wide as he stepped off the metagross. "_But my pride as a trainer will not let it lie like this."_

"You really are an egotistical fool." Cornelia smirked, raising her sword. "KILL HIM!"

"Y-YOUR HIGHNESS!!"

Cornelia looked around the room to see her men trapped behind walls of stone. "_This is between you and me, Princess Cornelia."_ Zero announced, waving his sword at her as his metagross and sandslash, both knowing Rock Tomb, returned to his side.

She glared, but was internally smiling at this masked man's audacity as she sent out her tyranitar and her walrein. "GO!" She shouted as sand began streaming around the room. "Tyranitar, Crunch! Walrein, HYDROPUMP!"

"_FOOL!"_ Zero shouted as a stream of sand shot at Cornelia's face, followed by Zero's blade. She barely managed to defend herself as a meteor-like punch rammed into the walrein beside her, followed by a spinning, spiky ball of death using Rollout.

Zero swung his blade again and was parried by Cornelia, turning him around and slashing, forcing the masked man into the corner.

Zero lowered his head and rammed Cornelia down the stairs, right into the thick of the sandstorm. "_S-1!"_ He shouted. "_Take care of E-2!"_

Cornelia squinted to protect her eyes from the flying sand, then shouted "TYRANITAR! USE ICE BEAM!"

She dodged back as Zero slashed at her, parrying his next blow and countering with a thrust of her own, which Zero dodged around and lunged for her as tyranitar groaned in pain as it passed out, the sandstorm beginning to subside.

"W-WHAT!?" Cornelia shouted as the sand began to clear, Zero jumping back onto her throne as it became visible that his sandslash was standing atop her fallen walrein and that Zero had ordered metagross to take on tyranitar, where its steel element would have the advantage against tyranitar's Ice Beam and rock defences.

"_Looks like this is my win, dear princess."_ Zero taunted, returning his pokémon and running towards a side window where his new crobat was waiting for him. "_Farewell!"_

Cornelia fell to her knees as her subordinates finally broke loose of the stone barricades. "I… lost..?"

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

This is what happens when I listen to Arctic Monkeys in a morning.

There may be another chapter later today, but most likely it will be ready tomorrow.

Until then, enjoy!


	6. The Black Knights

Whoo, new chapter time.

But yeah, the fanfiction's glitching up, so yeah.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

A few days later, Zero had prepared a surprise for Sableye.

"_What's wrong?"_Zero asked the members of Sableye as Ohgi opened the door to their new base, a luxury mobile transport. Similar to a bus, it was the type of vehicle only available to the rich and influential- naturally, the Japanese rebels felt alien to the idea that once such vehicle was at their disposal. Zero almost found himself chuckling at their expressions. "_Come in, this is our hideout from now on."_

"Can I assume this means that you intend to join us?" Ohgi asked tentatively, walking into the room.

"_Yes."_ Zero told them. "_We are companions."_

"Wow, this is amazing…" Tamaki whistled. "What is this?"

"Where did you get something like this?" Ohgi asked their new benefactor with caution.

"_A dilettante noble gave it to me when I asked him._" Zero answered truthfully.

"When you asked him?" Tamaki asked suspiciously.

"That easily?" Sugiyama asked with awe.

"_Don't worry."_ Zero comforted them. _"It can't be traced."_

"Hey, it's got a second floor!" Yoshida shouted. Sableye had recruited some of the remnants of another rebel faction after the recent battle.

"Isn't this getting a little too big?"

"But it's also possible that they won't check something like this." Kallen pointed out.

"Hey, it's even got a TV." Minami noted, sitting down on the couch and picking up the remote as he turned on the TV.

_\_ "What's going on at the scene!?" _\_ the announcer bellowed.

_\_ "Yes, I'm standing here in front of the Kawaguchi Lake convention centre." _\_ reported the female reporter. _\_ "The hotel-jackers have identified themselves as members of Team Rocket. Members of the Moonstone Distribution Council, including Chairman James, as well as tourists who happened to be staying there, along with several hotel staff, have been taken hostage." _\_

_\_ "This is a video sent by one of the criminals." _\_ she continued as the screen switched to show shaky footage of Britannians kneeling with their hands behind their heads as the black-clad rebels pointed their guns at them while raticate, golbat, arbok, hypno and other pokémon lurked around the room. _\_ "In addition to Chairman James, you can see students in here." _\_ The screen panned around the room and showed Nina, Shirley and Milly kneeling amongst them.

"The student council…" Kallen breathed.

"_Hm?"_ Zero hm'ed as the reporter continued her report.

_\_ "The leader of hotel-jackers has identified himself as Rocket Executive Petrel, from the former Japanese army." _\_ she said. _\_ "Moonstone is a critical component in the manufacture of other evolutionary stones, as well as TM's, HM's, pokéballs and other items we use in our daily lives, making it a strategic resource with world-wide security implications. Area 11 is the world's largest supplier of Moonstone, supplying over seventy percent of the supply on the world market. The yearly Moonstone Producing Nations conference held here decides the international distribution rate of moonstone. It's fair to say that the results of this discussion decide the power balance between we Britannians and the rest of the world. It's thought that Team Rocket chose this time to take action because the entire world's attention is focused here." _\_

"They've taken action?" Sugiyama asked.

"They're the largest anti-Britannian faction there is." Ohgi explained. "They've got their pride."

"Towards us?" Minami asked.

"Might be." Ohgi shrugged.

"I don't know whether to be happy or sad." Tamaki shrugged. "All it's gonna get them is an honourable death."

Lelouch looked down at his phone. _'Rivalz…'_

He rejected the call. _'I know'. _He thought, imagining Rivalz throw down his phone in rage, _'But…'_

"_There are boxes that we need to unpack."_ Lelouch told everyone, walking up the stairs. "_Please excuse me."_

"Hey, we're not your servants! You think you're so above us?" Tamaki asked angrily.

"_Our next mission will bring us into contact with Team Rocket.__This will be a very delicate operation."_Zero told them, booting up a computer and sitting down. "_I need to think of a plan quickly."_

That shut him up. "Alright, let's leave the strategist to it." Ohgi said, opening the cupboard and getting to work.

* * *

'_I need an organisation to fight Britannia._' Lelouch thought as he watched Shirley's father beg for his daughters life. _'But it's too soon… But I can't leave it alone. I know Cornelia; if it comes to it, she'll ignore the hostages and-'_

'_Then why _doesn't _she move?'_ Lelouch asked himself. _'She can't… __something is holding her back. But the only thing that could would be…' _Turning to his laptop, Lelouch made a quick search and confirmed his suspicions- his sister Euphemia was in Area 11, preparing to adopt a role in the government as Deputy Vicerine to Cornelia. He looked back up at the television as the pieces to his new plan fell into place.

"Zero." Kallen asked him. "What's going to happen to the hostages?"

Lelouch paused the news report. "_Either way, they have no reason to leave the Britannians alive."_ He told her honestly.

"I see…" Kallen nodded as Ohgi came through the door. "You're right, aren't you?"

"Hey, Zero!" Ohgi asked, showing the box to the masked man. "Should I give these to everybody? I think they're pretty cool, but we're a resistance called Sableye-"

"_No._" Zero corrected, swivelling to face him. "_We are not a resistance. We are not Sableye."_

"Then… what are we?" Ohgi asked.

Zero stood up. "_What we are to be are…_" He raised his arm to show his snag machine. "_Heroes of justice."_

He strode out of the room. "_Distribute the uniforms and start the engine."_ He ordered. "_I know what to do now."_

* * *

Once they reached the lake, Lelouch geassed a reporter to make him hand over his news van, and he stood atop it as Kallen drove into the middle of the army.

He could almost hear his men in the van below him murmur against him as Cornelia rode her tyranitar to block the bridge with two of her underlings, each riding rhyperiors.

'_Cornelia.'_ Lelouch thought to himself. _'I'd love to give you the chance to repay your debt, but you'll be more useful later on. If I'm reading this right, I don't need to use the Geass here.'_

"We meet again, Zero." Cornelia declared atop her pokémon, which was holding a large black staff with a huge golden spike at one end. "Are you a member of Team Rocket?" She asked. "Or are you going to cooperate with us?"

"Not that it matters. I've got more important priorities here." She said, not giving him chance to answer. "I'll take my revenge for Clovis right here!" She shouted, drawing a long barrelled gun and pointing it at Zero.

"_Cornelia, which will you choose?"_ Zero asked her, looking down the barrel without so much as a twitch. "_The dead Clovis, or the living Euphemia?"_

'_Good, I was right.'_ Lelouch smirked to himself at the sight of Cornelia's face. _'The first condition is clear. You're the same as always, my dear sister. You've always loved her.'_ He remembered. _'So you can't move. Your emotions are interfering.'_

"_I will save Euphemia."_ Zero declared.

…

"I don't know what you're talking about, Zero!" Cornelia shouted once she recovered from the shock.

"_I will save her."_ Lelouch repeated. _"I can do it!" _

Cornelia glared, then lowered her weapon. "Let them through." She decided, glaring straight ahead as the van carrying Zero passed by her.

'_Will Team Rocket welcome me as a comrade, or treat me as an enemy?' _Lelouch pondered. _'Either way, they won't be able to resist the temptation to talk to __Zero_. _Which means…'_

The gates opened before him, just as planned. _'All the requirements for this operation are clear.'_ Lelouch grinned to himself. _'This battle is won.'_

* * *

"_Why don't you join me?"_ Zero asked Executive Petrel.

"Then show yourself." Petrel demanded. "It's rude of you to remain masked!"

"_Understood._" Zero nodded. _"But before then, let me ask you something. What do you seek to gain from this?"_

"Like I care." Petrel grunted. "I just want the world to know that Team Rocket, no, Japan, is still alive!"

"_Obsolete…__"_

Petrel leant forward in confusion.

"_You are all __obsolete.__"_Zero sighed, disappointed. "_It's too late for you to be saved."_

"Why you!" one grunt shouted.

"What do you mean, Zero?" Petrel asked.

"_Your world is no more."_ He told them. "_It is a dead place and you no longer belong among the living."_

"Then there's nothing more to talk about!" Petrel shouted, sending out his weezing and charging with a katana.

"_**Die.**_"

* * *

Moments later, the door was barged down and the Rocket grunt doing it got his shoulder sliced open by a Scyther. "_Calm down."_ Zero told him. "_Petrel and the others committed suicide."_ Their pokémon began to realise that they were now free and began to look for an escape. "_They realised the futility of what they were trying to achieve."_

"_Euphemia._" Lelouch said, looking at the pink-haired princess. "_You revealed yourself to help the masses? That's like you." _ He told her.

He then turned to the other Rocket Grunts. "_**Leave her with me and wait outside**__."_ He ordered.

Once they were alone, he returned his pokémon as the wild ones broke out the window. "_I heard you were given the title of Deputy Vicereine, Princess Euphemia."_ Lelouch told her.

"It's not something to be happy about." Euphemia told him defiantly.

"_Yes, because Clovis is dead."_ Zero told her. "_I killed him."_ Euphemia half-gasped. "_He begged for his life until the very end."_ He told her as her face slowly grew into a glare. "_With the same mouth he used to order the deaths of Elevens."_

"Is that why you killed him?" Euphemia demanded softly, refusing to cry.

"_No."_

"Then why!?"

"_Because he was the child of _that man_, the Emperor of Britannia."_

The princess gasped properly this time. "_Now that I think about it…_" Zero told her, raising a sword at her. "_So are you…"_

Sword leveled to his sister, Zero stared at her, testing her. Euphemia's face was filled with terror, but she refused to beg or scream, glaring back at him with defiance in her expression that Lelouch found almost… nostalgic. "_But then again…"_

_\_ "ZERO!!" _\_ Kallen shouted in his ear. _\_ "WE NEED YOUR HELP DOWN HERE!" _\_

He lowered his blade and activated his communicator. "_What is it Q-1?"_

_\_ "There's these two… monsters fighting down here!" _\_ She reported. _\_ "One of them's that thing from Shinjuku, but the one Team Rocket had suddenly went berserk! We're all whiped out!" _\_

"_Is everything else in place?" _Lelouch asked her.

_\_ "Yes!" _\_

"_I'm on my way."_ Zero told her, pulling out a ball and releasing his sandslash. "_Please, make your way down to the others quickly."_ he told Euphemia as the sandslash began to glow with a dark brown energy. "_We shall meet again."_

With that, he disappeared into the ground.

* * *

Zero landed in the under-water tunnel and stood up in the dim red lighting to examine the scene.

Suzaku's mewtwo was fighting a yellow tiger with a purple mane and an electric blue tail. A figure in white armour, presumable Suzaku, was helping, barely, but Zero's subordinates were unable to do anything.

"_Go help the others above."_ Zero ordered Kallen and Minami. "_I will sort this out."_

"ZERO!" Suzaku shouted as the black armoured figure rushed forward to help the situation.

It only made sense that Petrel would have something like this. A _Legendary_ pokémon.

Japan was naturally in abundance of pokémon such as these, in compared to the rest of the world, but they were still unbelievably rare.

And since Lelouch ordered Petrel to kill himself, it's only natural that the pokémon would go wild and attack indiscriminately in its outrage at being captured.

That said, Lancelot the mewtwo was doing a good job at keeping it under control, but barely. Mewtwo had power-dampening armour to keep it under control, and this pokémon was getting a power boost from it's new freedom. The beast rushed around the room with frightening speed, making it diffucult for Lancelot to get a single hit on it.

Lightning crackled across the room. "_What do we know about this thing?"_ Zero asked Lelouch as his sandslash charged in to fight.

"They called it raikou, and it seems to be an electric type." Suzaku reported, nursing his ribs, but then he remembered himself. "Wait-"

"_My current objective is to subdue this pokémon and save the hostages."_ Lelouch told him. "_I believe we can at least work together to achieve that."_

Suzaku as shocked, but nodded. "LANCELOT!" He shouted. "Zero's helping now!"

Mewtwo gave Suzaku a look that seemed to ask if Zero was ever _not_ helping in this situation, but returned to the task at hand and launched raikou back with a Mega Punch.

The raikou twisted and recovered from the blow, but it's hind leg stuck into a pitfall created by Zero's sandslash, causing the beast to stumble.

Spotting his chance, Zero ran forward and sent out crobat to increase his speed as raikou burst forward, knocking crobat out with a bolt of electricity.

Lelouch jumped from the bat, his suit having protected him from the discharge of energy, and grabbed a fast ball, ramming it into raikou's face with his snag arm. The pokémon was turned into energy and the ball began shaking madly. Landing, Lelouch slammed his fist down and held the ball against the concrete floor with all his might, but the pokémon was steadily overpowering him. He gritted his teeth as he felt his arm become numb from the vibrations, and he knew it was only a matter of time until-

Lelouch felt a large three-fingered hand push down on his own, and looked up to see mewtwo helping subdue raikou.

PING

Mewtwo stepped back as Lelouch inspected the new member to his party, before turning to Suzaku. "_You should leave here before the explosives go off."_ He warned, turning to mewtwo and patting it on the shoulder. "_Thank you."_

Mewtwo tilted its head at Zero, then turned to float to Suzaku as Lelouch returned his fainted pokémon and sent out raikou, riding atop it down the tunnel.

It obeyed _him_ now.

* * *

The tower exploded, and as the smoke cleared, Lelouch activated the camera pointed at his masked face. "_Britannians!"_ He declared, turning the camera to face the life boats in the water. "_Fear not. I have saved all the hostages in the hotel. I will return them to you now." _

Lights then flared to life behind him, revealing the former members of Sableye in their new black coats, face-covering visors, snag-arms and caps. "_People Of The World!"_ Zero declared. "_Fear us, and seek us out! We are the Order of the Black Knights!"_

He paused for effect. "_We of the Black Knights stand with all those who have no power to defend themselves… regardless of whether they be Elevens or Britannians!"_ He declared._ "Team Rocket cowardly took innocent Britannian civilians hostage, and they mercilessly executed them! It was a wanton and meaningless act; therefore, they have been punished… The former Viceroy Clovis was the same. He ordered the slaughter of countless unarmed Elevens!"_

"_I cannot ignore such atrocities, thus I punished him." _Zero declared. "_We cannot stand by and allow such cruelty to be carried out, and so we made him pay for his actions."_ Zero continued._ "I will not refuse to fight; rather, a battle is such a thing of honour and pride! But will I tolerate a one-sided massacre of the weak by the strong? NO!" _

"_The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed!" _ Zero preached._ "When those with power attack the powerless, we shall appear again, no matter how mighty or formidable our foe may be!"_

"_You with power."_ Zero warned, flicking his left hand out from his cloak. "_FEAR US! Those without power…" _He flicked his right arm with the snag machine out. "_JOIN US! WE! THE BLACK KNIGHTS! SHALL JUDGE!"_

"_THIS!!" _

"_WORLD__!!"_

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

That's a nice place to leave it.

But hey, who care's if it's short? I have an epic update rate.

Besides, the next episode takes place two weeks after this one. It's kinda jarring to have a timeskip in the middle of a chapter.


	7. Refrain

Aaaaand time skip for the yay!

Also, Patch, I hear your request, I'm developing a plot for the chapter, so far it'll be hilarious, expect the next ITY some time next week.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_\_ "It seems that they're finally going to begin the demolition of the ruined Kawaguchi Lake Hotel Convention Centre." _\_ The anchorman on the TV reported. _\_ "It's almost been two weeks since Zero and the Black Knights made their declaration, no-ones yet found any definite evidence, have they?" _\_

_\_ "Haven't they narrowed down their escape route?" _\_ His co-anchor asked.

_\_ "After releasing the hostages, he went via car from the coast to the magnet train." _\_ the first anchor answered as Lelouch turned off the TV.

"Hm?" C.C. asked, biting into her pizza. "I was watching that."

"I'm tired." Lelouch sighed, slumping onto the bed ignoring the green-haired witch who was lounging on the bed beside him, wearing nothing but one of his shirts, again, and getting pizza crust crumbs all over his sheets, _again_. "Every night I haven't been out on a mission with the Black Knights I've been trying to tame that damned raikou…"

"Legendary pokémon are notoriously difficult to master, aren't they?" C.C. smirked, teasing her jirachi with a pizza crust..

"I don't now how Suzaku does it, but now I can appreciate why they can't just replace him." He yawned, closing his eyes and getting some rest.

"Hey, Lulu!" Rivalz shouted, kicking the door down. "We've been looking for yo-whoa!"

He stared slack jawed at pointed at C.C. in horror as Lelouch groaned, waking up. "Isn't that rather rude?" C.C. asked the speechless teen absently, biting into another pizza slice.

Then Lelouch realised how much crap he was in, and leapt from the bed, slowly pushing Rivalz out. "Don't leave this room." Lelouch warned C.C., who waved him off and turned the TV back on.

"Who the hell was that!?" Rivalz shouted as Lelouch covered his friend's mouth to silence him.

"A lodger who's freeloading here." Lelouch hissed. "Nunnally and Sayako don't know about her, and neither does Milly, Shirley, Suzaku, Nina or Kallen." He glared into Rivalz eyes. "I'd appreciate it if it stays that way, understand?"

Rivalz nodded, and Lelouch let him go. "So, she your girlfriend?" Rivalz asked. "I'm just wondering because you two were in bed together and it didn't look like she was wearing pants or even-"

Lelouch shot daggers out of his eyes. "Right, gotcha, don't talk about it." Rivalz said desperately, zipping his mouth shut. "Also Milly's coming to kidnap you for the cat party we didn't get to do earlier."

Lelouch nodded. "Go back in there and get my costume from the corner wardrobe." He ordered. "Don't talk to the girl or pay any attention to anything she says, I'll go give myself up."

"Good man." Rivalz nodded, entering into Lelouch's room as the dark haired man jogged down the corridor.

Suddenly, a Japanese schoolboy jumped on top of him.

"GOTCHA!" Suzaku shouted, tackling him to the ground.

"Hey, what!?" Lelouch shouted as he was picked up and carried down the corridor. "Suzaku, what the hell!?"

"Sorry Lelouch." Suzaku smirked, enjoying every second of this mayhem. "Council president's orders were very specific and very fun."

* * *

And that's how Lelouch got tied to a chair as Milly painted black lines on his face and Shirley tied two yellow scrunches' into his hair as Kallen walked into the student council room.

"Meow-ning." Milly greeted in her delcatty costume.

"G-Good morning…" Kallen managed, barely. "What is this?"

"Huh? Didn't we tell you?" Rivalz asked, already dressed in his granbull costume. "It's a welcoming party for Arthur."

"You guys sure are taking it easy…" She marvelled, taking in Suzaku's espeon costume and Shirley's vulpix costume. Nina was at the computer, as usual, dressed as a skitty.

Milly giggled. "We should take it easy while we have the chance." She told her.

"We've got yours ready." Shirley told Kallen, walking over to her after handing the face-paint to Suzaku so he could take over painting Lelouch while Rivalz kept his cords tight. "It's my apology for acting weird earlier, so which one do you want? Glameow? Flareon?"

"Eh?" Kallen asked. "I-"

"Kallen doesn't need one." Lelouch smirked. "She's already as catty as they come, RUN FOR IT RIVALZ!" He shouted, running out of the chair and falling over as he realised that his hands were tied behind it.

"Why don't you try going on TV?" Kallen sneered as Suzaku lifted Lelouch up. "You'd make a great stand-up comic."

"Speaking of TV, what do you think, Ms. TV star?" Rivalz asked Shirley.

"Ah, so you're asking her." Suzaku noted.

"Don't joke about it!" Shirley shouted. "I had a horrible time after it! People chasing me at all hours day and night, pestering me with questions! Even in the bath!"

"We haven't been able to leave school for the past week…" Milly nodded.

"But why haven't we been able to leave either?" Rivalz asked her. "Some of us have jobs you know."

"That's what friends are for, right?" Milly asked him. "We ask not the same day of birth but that we die together." She quoted from The Romance Of The Three Kingdoms.

Rivalz smirked. "Is that a marriage proposal?" He asked.

Milly turned around and stroked the air with her paw playfully. "It means that you and me-ow will die at the same time." She flirted.

"That's horrible," Rivalz groaned, "Right Suzaku-huh?"

Suzaku was on the verge of tears. "I'm so glad…" He sniffed. "I'm so glad we can all get together again…" He rubbed his face with his paw.

Lelouch smiled, and Rivalz vaulted over him. "Come on," He told Suzaku, grabbing him. "You're supposed to laugh at times like- whoa!" He shouted as both he and Suzaku fell over.

* * *

Just as Zero had promised, the world had changed since the Black Knights had made their appearance.

They had become allies of the weak, and punished terrorists whose attacks harmed civilians.

Oppressive military forces, profit-seeking organisations, criminal organisations, all those who the law couldn't punish, they did.

In an instant, they became heroes. Their supporters increased, and they were capturing pokémon again.

Of course, none of this was public.

Because… their leader, Zero, had killed Prince Clovis.

There were those, even amongst the Black Knights, who wanted to know Zero's identity, but they felt that if they ever did know before he was ready, then he would disappear.

They would not be able to continue without him.

* * *

"So, how are things with that girl of yours?" Rivalz asked with a lecherous grin as he was working on his bike.

Lelouch glared at him, expressing a hearty 'dude, not funny' with his eyes. "Believe me, it's not like that at all."

Rivalz' expression sobered up and he returned his focus to his bike. "Whatever. I'm just wondering, since you haven't been hanging out with us much lately." Rivalz told Lelouch, before glancing up at his golduck. "Easy, don't try to get too much power in one go!" He told his pokémon. "Just focus on controlling it for now."

"You think so?" Lelouch asked as the golduck continued practicing its new attack.

"I know so." Rivalz told him.

Then came the awkward silence.

"She has a great ass though, doesn't she RUN FOR IT GOLDUCK!!" Rivalz screamed, sprinting towards the forest as Lelouch sighed and entered the student council room.

* * *

"Don't cry over something like that." Lelouch told Suzaku that afternoon as they built a pen for Arthur. "It's embarrassing."

"I call it honest-NGH!" Suzaku winced as his meowth shows off its Bite attack.

"Well, it's a good thing that everyone was saved." Lelouch sighed. "You've gotta give thanks to them Black Knights."

Suzaku put his meowth down. "If they want to catch criminals, they should join the police force." He said. "Why don't they?"

"They probably thought they couldn't if they did." Lelouch shrugged. "The police are rather useless."

"Even if they are," Suzaku told Lelouch with a glare. "They should still join and try to change it from the inside!"

"They'll have a lot of constraints put on them during the process of changing it." Lelouch pointed out.

"You can't say that until you've tried to change it!" Suzaku countered. "If they don't do that, then everything they've done so far is just self-righteous!"

"Self-righteous?" Lelouch asked.

"What is this 'evil' that they speak of?" Suzaku asked rhetorically. "We don't even know what they're basing it on! It's a one-way street of self-satisfaction!"

Lelouch would have made a counter-argument there and then, but Shirley chose that moment to walk in. "Just you two?" She asked, seating her schoolbag onto the table.

"Well, I have to get back to the army." Suzaku said, getting to his feet. "See you Shirley." He said with a wink, leaving the two alone.

"Later then!" Shirley waved, before turning to Lelouch, who sighed and continued piecing the pen together in silence.

"Hey, LULU!" Shirley shouted accidentally, before stopping and lowering her voice. "Uh, If you've got time, sometime, would you-"

"He said he was going back to the army, didn't he?" Lelouch grunted, standing up and admiring his handiwork.

"Eh?" Shirley asked.

"'Go back.'" Lelouch quoted. "Does that mean that the army is the place where he belongs?"

He walked towards the door. "I'll see you later Shirley." He told her. "I'm sorry I haven't been around as much, but I've got a lot on my mind."

"Huh?" She asked as he left. "Oh, okay…"

* * *

"Kneel down and apologise!"

"That's what you Elevens are good for, right!?"

Kallen, walking downtown distractedly, was pulled from her thoughts as she noticed a group of biker punks kicking a defenseless Japanese man curled up on the ground.

"Elevens…" Kallen whispered to herself, walking towards the scene only to be blocked off by a stern-faced Lelouch.

"There are five of them." he told her. "They have Pokémon. Even if you do to, you don't stand a chance."

"It doesn't matter." Kallen told him. "I can't leave him."

"Take a good look at the Eleven they're beating up." Lelouch told her. She turned to look at the man, and the Lava Cookie logo on his apron. "What do you think would happen if you helped him and won?" Lelouch asked, directing her gaze towards the shopkeepers cart. "He wouldn't be able to do business here tomorrow. He chose to be a Britannian slave." he explained as the man curled up into a ball on the ground as the men stomped on his back. "That's what it means to work in the settlement."

"But-"

"Got a problem?" the largest Cue ball asked, leading his biker buddies to Lelouch and Kallen. "Feel sorry for the Eleven?"

"No, he wants to join us." one of his buddies said with a swagger.

"No thanks." Lelouch smiled as the men stood in front of him. "**You guys shouldn't pick on Elevens anymore though.**"

"Tch, why would we do that?" one guy asked.

"Beating up someone who won't fight back, where's the fun?" the big Cue ball shrugged.

"Let's go to the game corner." one biker suggested. "I heard of a way to use golems to fix the slots."

"Dude, really?" one of his mates exclaimed, following the group towards their bikes.

"They give up easily." Lelouch noted as Kallen looked at him in amazement, before running over to the beaten shop keeper.

"Are you okay?" She asked him, helping him up.

The man forced himself to look up, and gasped. "G-good afternoon!" He exclaimed. "May I interest you in a Lava Cookie?"

Kallen backed off in disbelief as the Elevener looked at Lelouch. "Is that your boyfriend?" He asked. "Would you like one also? I've got Soda Pops and Lemonades too!"

"Two cookies and two lemonades please." Lelouch ordered as Kallen looked at the shopkeeper in horror.

"Thank you very much sir!" He said, jumping to his feet and bowing deeply, quickly limping towards his cart and rummaging through the trays.

Lelouch helped Kallen to her feet and paid for the food. "Thank you very much." Lelouch said, bowing towards the man, but giving him plenty of room to bow deeper, then turned to Kallen and gave her half of the food. "You could say that Area 11 is better off than when it was Japan." He told her, leading her away as he bit into his cookie. "Becoming a colony of Britannia has stabilised its economic and military situations greatly. You can even gain rights as a citizen." Psht. "Go to a government office and fill out a form, and you can become an honorary Britannian." He took a swig of his lemonade. "The only problem is pride. Well, I can understand the people who want to live that way too."

"And?" Kallen asked. "I see that you understand all that, but what do _you_ think, Lelouch Lamperouge? What do you want to do?"

"Nothing really." Lelouch admitted, sitting down on a bench.

"It seems you're pretty smart, but you're wasting it." Kallen commented, sitting beside him. "Shirley was complaining about it earlier. 'Lulu's so smart, but he just doesn't put any effort into his schoolwork!'"

"That's why I don't do anything." Lelouch lied. "That Eleven back there understood that as well. He could live better off if he bowed before the Britannians."

Kallen stood to her feet and slapped Lelouch across the face. "Do you think that's cool!?" She snarled, slipping into Kallen Kozuki. "To act all detached and impartial like that!?" She drew herself to her full height. "I was a fool to expect anything from you." She said. "I thought you were a better man than that."

Lelouch rubbed his face with a smirk as Kallen stormed off, and counted to thirty before getting up and returning to the shop keeper. "Oh, can I help you sir?" He asked.

"No, but I can help you." Lelouch told him. "**Keep off the drugs and hand me the Refrain.**"

"Yes sir!" The Elevener nodded, opening a drawer and handing Lelouch a box of canisters and a loader. "May I ask you to dispose of these for me?"

"Gladly." Lelouch smiled, shoving the drugs into the rucksack he'd brought for that very purpose as he headed off towards the Black Knight's mobile base.

There was a receipt. '_We now have a destination for tonight's mission.'_

* * *

The plan was simple: Go in, take out the smugglers, destroy the Refrain, get out, have some celebratory drinks back in the van.

The police weren't meant to be waiting in ambush for them.

There wasn't meant to be a drug party going on in the back of the warehouse.

Ohgi's blastoise wasn't meant to take a bullet to the head.

Kallen's mother wasn't supposed to jump in the way of the Fire Blast headed for Kallen's vileplume.

She wasn't supposed to die.

Lives shouldn't have been lost that night.

The mission was a success only in that they fulfilled their objectives.

In every other sense of the world, it was a failure.

"Lying tears hurt others." C.C. noted afterwards. "Lying smiles only hurt oneself."

* * *

" _Are you alright?"_ Zero asked Kallen, who was curled up into a ball upstairs, on the drive back.

"…No…"

Kallen looked up slightly, but her eyes were unfocused, unable to comprehend what had happened.

Zero sat down next to her, and for a long while was silent. _"Nothing I say or do can make what has happened right again..." _he said finally._ "When a loved one dies… it can seem like there is no path forwards, no matter how hard you look."_

Kallen nodded distractedly, as if she only half understood his words in her grief. Zero paused, lifting his hand to look at the miniaturized pokéball within.

"_I can't say this path we walk will not lead to future tragedies." _Zero admitted_. "All I know is that I have chosen the path I must walk. It is the only one I know that will not make the blood spilled so far be in vain. You, too, must choose your path. If that path is alongside the Black Knights, I will walk beside you proudly. But if your path leads elsewhere, I will understand your choice. Regardless…"_ He tapped the pokéball and it enlarged into a green, camoflagued Safari Ball.

Zero sat down next to her. "_I want to give this to you__, to help you no matter what path you choose__."_ He told her, handing her a Safari Ball.

Kallen took it tentatively, sending out the pokémon within.

"SCYTHA!" the insect pokémon shouted. The scyther met Kallen's teary eyes and understood that it had a new master. Slowly, it began glowing white and changing shape, it's blades receding and becoming stouter, it's carapace becoming tougher than steel. The glow faded but the shiny luster remained on the pokemon. "SCIZOR!" it cried, the sound echoing though it's entire red metallic frame.

"_Take good care of him."_ Zero asked her. "_Would you like to name him?"_

Kallen thought for a second before stretching out a hand and touching her new pokémon on the cheek. "Gurren." She said. "I'll name you Gurren."

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

So, yeah. Like where this is going? Don't like? Tell me what you think in the reviews! I'm not getting enough of those for the rate I'm pumping these out. I'm starting to create a buffer for crying out loud! I NEVER HAVE A BUFFER!


	8. The Gurren Dances

I'm on a roll. I wrote this on Wednesday, but even posting one chapter a day, I'm still gonna post this on Friday. My output rate scares me.

But, more importantly, today is the 30th of April, also known as the day a very awesome person was born.

Yep, it's my birthday, I'll do the hobbit thing and give you all a present! This chapter shall cover the events of TWO EPISODES OF CODE GEASS!

You guys should really review more. If reviews are author fuel, then what the hell would happen if I got lots?

Also, I am aware that in Code Geass, Gurren is spelt with one 'r'. I however, prefer the TTGL spelling, so there.

Also, this story takes three things for granted.

1) Pokémon can learn more than four moves at a time.

2) Having the eighth badge makes all pokémon registered to you obey your every command, except Legendaries, but it does help.

3) Wailord can fly.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_Lelouch, a young outcast prince of Britannia possesses two great powers: one of them is Geass, the absolute ability to compel any person to do whatever he commands. The other is the Black Knights, his military force assemble with the attempt of destroying the Britannian Empire ruled by his father. Veiling his true identity behind a mask and the codename, Zero. Lelouch has made his move to avenge his mother's murder and to create a world in which his younger sister Nunnally can find happiness. What will be the final outcome of these actions? At this point, only celebi can predict..._

* * *

Lelouch looked over the names of the applicants to join the Black Knights one night as C.C. swan dived into the pool, when one face caught his eye. '_Diethard Ried, a Britannian?'_ Lelouch smirked. "A rather public man for a spy." He noted. "I guess he's anti-imperialist too."

"How nice." C.C. commented as she floated in the pool. "That there are so many trying to enlist."

"It's been easier than I expected." Lelouch admitted. "The vast majority of Elevens hate Britannia, but cannot justify using terrorism to fight it."

"And so the majority of Elevens support the Order of the Black Knights…" C.C. noted under the open roof.

"Yes, it certainly makes working as a group much easier." Lelouch nodded as the croconaw he was raising paddled past C.C. "Since the citizens refuse to report our activities to the authorities. Team Rocket said that they would send us some pokémon, and our capacity for gathering information is exponentially increasing. These Japanese are quite susceptible to fads, as long as you can give them a cause to rally behind." He noted with a grin.

"So is that why you're playing the champion of justice?" C.C. asked as she climbed out of the water.

"Everyone loves a champion." Lelouch explained.

C.C. giggled. "You certainly don't look like one." She said.

"Don't I?" Lelouch flirted.

There was a burst of light from the pool and a large blue snout poked out of the surface of the water. "Feraligatr!"

Lelouch closed his laptop and strode over to the pool's edge and squatted down to his pokémon. "Did you drop the Everstone you were holding?" He asked, rubbing his pokémon's head is it growled in embarrassed shame. "Honestly…"

* * *

"Wow!" One of the new Black Knights shouted as he was awarded his new Earth Badge and some pokémon. "These are amazing!"

"Yeah, and they're for us!" Another recruit shouted.

"Then we're their elite members, right?"

"This is awesome!"

"_Ohgi."_ Zero said, holding out a dive ball to his second-in-command. "_You have my condolences for the loss of your blastoise, and I wish to give you a pokémon I raised as an apology for my incompetence as a leader."_

"What're you talking about?" Ohgi asked. "You've been a better leader than we could have dreamed of! Besides…" He sighed as he glanced at Kallen. "We've all lost in the battles."

"_I know._" Zero told him. "_The only ones who should kill are those prepared to be killed. That is why I want you to take good care of my feraligatr." _

"A-are you serious?" Ohgi asked, taking the pokéball with gratefulness. "Thank you, Zero."

"Zero!" Tamaki shouted, running at him while holding an unfamiliar pokéball. "What's this one?"

The pokéball was red on the top with a thick green line running down the seam, and silver at the bottom. "_Don't open it!"_ Zero ordered snatching it off him. "_I'm sure you remember that Legendary Pokémon are extremely hard to handle."_

Tamaki looked like he had a few choice words to share, but was distracted when a new recruit ran up to them. "Senpai!" a young girl asked Tamaki with a salute. "What does this tool do?"

"There's no helping these newbies, huh?" Tamaki sighed. "Alright, let Tamaki-senpai teach you all about it."

"_I knew Tamaki would take it this way, but it's odd that Inoue would join in on the festivities."_ Zero told Kallen as he walked up to her. "_Apparently Team Rocket backs many rebel groups."_

"Yes," Kallen replied happily. "And we've finally become one of them."

"_No, you're wrong Kallen."_ Zero told her. "_This is merely a test."_

"I'm just glad we've come far enough to be tested at all." she told him.

"_You're so optimistic."_ Zero sighed, tossing her the pokéball he'd taken from Tamaki.

"What is this..?" she asked, looking at it.

"_It's__ yours, Kallen."_

"Mine!?" Kallen shouted, glancing in shock between Zero and the ball with the legendary pokémon within. "But there are so many other talented trainers! Besides…" She protested. "Wouldn't its offensive capabilities be better used in your hands?"

"_I have my hands full taming raikou."_ Zero explained. "_You're my top trainer. I've seen the way you treat your pokémon, and Gurren absolutely adores you. For that reason,"_ he pointed at her gently. "_I trust that you can make that __legendary__ pokémon__ truly yours, because you are my ace in the hole when the hyper beams start blasting. Besides, you have a reason to fight."_ He reminded her.

Kallen set her face with determination. "Yes sir."

"Zero, may I have a moment?" Ohgi asked, walking up holding a sheet of paper. "We've just received some interesting information from a prospective Britannian member."

"_Hm?"_ Zero asked, taking the document from his second-in-command and browsing through it.

"It could be a trap." Ohgi warned. "It would be too dangerous to meet up with him, even to confirm this information, but this dirt he's dug up is too juicy to ignore." He looked to his leader. "What should we do?"

Zero closed the folder. "_Let's take a little hike to the Narita mountain range this weekend."_ He suggested. "_I trust the new recruits are capable of using Rock Climb?"_

"Thanks to the Earth Badges, yes." Ohgi nodded. "Then…"

* * *

Lelouch entered the Block Five hut and unmasked himself as the guards sent out their arcanine and hariyama. "**Calm down.**" He ordered. "**You may ignore everything unusual that's about to happen.**"

"Fine, fine." The first guard sighed, returning his hariyama and sitting back at the table. "It's your move." He told his partner, who returned his arcanine and picked up his hand.

"I'll evolve my rhyhorn." The second guard said, placing the second card atop it the aforementioned one. "Into Blaine's rhydon!"

"Ah, man!" the first guard complained as Lelouch sat down by a window and began to browse the document Ohgi had given him earlier in the week as the two guards focused on their children's card game.

"Cornelia…" He told himself. "The time has come at last… what the hell is she doing!?"

He slammed the folder onto the desk and ran outside, confronting the familliar green-haired witch. "C.C.!" He called. "What're you doing here!?"

She turned to him. "I thought I said that I'd protect you?" She asked.

"Who the hell do you think you are, my mother?"

C.C. turned to gaze at the view. "Lelouch." She asked. "Why are you 'Lelouch'?"

"I don't have time to discuss philosophy." Lelouch told her, sitting on the cliff-ledge.

"You changed your family name to 'Lamperouge', but you kept your given name, 'Lelouch'." She turned to face him. "You simply couldn't let go of your past, could you?"

"But don't you think that 'C.C.' is a little much?" Lelouch countered. "That's not even a person's name."

C.C. glared at him and an icy wind blew, spreading snow through the air until the glare turned into a sad smile. "Lelouch, do you know why snow is white?" She asked him. "Because it's forgotten what colour it once was."

Lelouch sighed, then put his mask back on. "_Don't get in my way."_ He told her, sending out his nidoking and riding it down the mountain to where the Black Knights were preparing their attack.

* * *

"Say, are we really going to do this?" Ohgi asked Zero as the other Black Knights worked to bury the speakers.

"_We're up against Cornelia, the most formidable military mind in all Britannia."_ Zero reasoned.

"Then…" Ohgi turned away, lowering his voice. "We should join up with Team Rocket…"

"_Now?"_ Zero asked. "_Ohgi, do you not trust me?"_

"What're you talking about?" Ohgi asked, almost angrily. "Of course I do! I _asked_ you to be our leader!"

"_Then I only want to hear one thing."_

Ohgi almost protested, but he held his tongue. "Yes sir…"

"Look!" someone shouted, pointing into the sky as half a dozen wailord flew overhead.

"_And so it begins…"_ Zero commented as pokémon and their trainers flew out of the ports constructed around the floating whales.

"Y-you're kidding…" Tamaki gasped, turning to his leader. "YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME ZERO! THAT MANY UNITS WILL COMPLETELY SURROUND US!! And our way out…"

"_Is already completely cut off."_ Zero finished. "_If we wish to live, we must make our stand here."_

"M-make a stand against Britannia?" Inoue gasped.

"YOU'RE ASKING US TO FIGHT THEM HEAD ON!?" Tamaki screeched. "WE'RE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED YOU DUMBASS!!"

"And we're up against Cornelia this time!" Sugiyama pointed out. "Unlike our other targets, she's a force to be reckoned with!"

"_Yes._" Zero nodded. "_It would take a miracle for us to win this one."_

"WHAT THE HELL ZERO!" Ohgi shouted, turning around to face his leader.

"_Even the messiah had to perform a miracle to prove himself._" Zero commented. "_Grandmaster Red even obliterated Team Rocket as a single young boy after the war. Thus, we need a miracle as well."_

"MIRACLES DON'T COME CHEAP!" Tamaki shouted, reaching for his pokéballs and gun. "YOU REALLY _CAN'T _LEAD US! I CAN-"

Zero silenced him by sending out raikou, which growled menacingly. Zero then tossed the fast ball to Tamaki. "_Our escape is cut off."_ He said. "_Whoever truly believes that they can win- no, even survive this without my leadership is free to kill me here and now."_

Lelouch waited for a few seconds while everyone grasped the severity of their situation. "_As a member of the Order of the Black Knights, you have two choices."_ He told them. "_Live with me, or DIE WITH ME!"_

The assembled Black Knights stared in shock and disbelief at him, but none made any actions against him. With mounting horror, they realized that Zero spoke the truth. Without him, there was no hope of escaping with their lives.

"_What's the matter?"_ Zero asked, stepping down from the ledge. "_Will no-one challenge me?"_

"Kch." Tamaki grunted, shoving the fast ball into Zero's hand. "Do whatever you want."

"Yeah." Sugiyama nodded sarcastically. "You're the leader."

"_Thank you."_ Lelouch grinned behind the mask. "_I appreciate it."_

* * *

'_Not bad Cornelia.'_ Lelouch thought to himself as he browsed through the document one last time in privacy. "_Such logical barbarity. Your strategy's brilliance is what makes it so predictable, and oh-so-easy to find.'_

"_RIGHT!"_ Zero declared. "_EVERYTHING IS IN PLACE! Black Knights, prepare for battle!"_

The knights started psyching themselves up with prayers of "This is it!" and "I'm not gonna die here!", even "We'll give you your miracle!", but the most prominent one was "We've got Zero on our side."

"_The Order of the Black Knights will now execute a surprise attack on the Britannian forces!" _Zero declared, riding his raikou. "_Follow my orders and descend to Point Three simultaneously! The goal of this operation is the capture of the Second Princess of Britannia, CORNELIA!"_

"_Kallen and her Gurren will open up our route."_ Zero continued as Kallen climbed onto her scizor's back. Lelouch had bred that scyther for speed, and its new steel armour hadn't slowed it down by some miracle.

Lelouch then guided the raikou to the third power probe. "_This is it."_ He declared as raikou placed a paw on the plate. "_NOW!"_

* * *

Electricity coursed through the plate and into the network of wires, giving power to the sound system buried under the ground with three dozen subwoofers planted in strategic positions, each one playing a variation of the sound used by Team Rocket all those years ago to force magikarp to evolve.

The diglett under the mountain began to home in on each other instinctively, clumping together in confused, bewildered and above all _angry_ groups of three.

The new dugtrio did not like this strange sound, and they made their complaints heard with a hundred Magnitudes.

The whole mountainside shook, and earth and rocks began to fall in exactly the positions Lelouch had calculated.

Water burst from the earth in mighty geysers, and soil surged down the mountainside like a rampaging tauros, carrying all the geodude, onix, and machop with it.

The pokémon would survive. They go through worse every couple of years.

The Britannian soldiers, however, would not be so fortunate.

The chaos was immense. Pokémon became wild left, right and centre, rushing away from the chaos to avoid getting re-captured by the surviving entrepreneurs.

Landslides were common in Narita thanks to the activity of the pokémon in the mountain, but it had never seen a disaster as devastating as this was. If it wasn't for the defensive wall at the edge of the city built in anticipation for this sort of event, a lot more than a couple of buildings would have been buried under the rubble.

'_That was more destructive than I expected.'_ Lelouch smirked to himself. _'We may have to use it a little more carefully in the future. I should have my physics teacher, no, Nina would be a better teacher. She could even lecture me on chaos theory while she's at it.'_

"_The initial conditions have been met! Eighty percent of the enemy forces have been wiped out and __Cornelia only has a limited number of reinforcements!"_ Lelouch barked into his communicator. "_Find them and destroy them!"_

Various units radioed in their affirmative.

'_Forcing the troops to make a final stand, and causing a rock slide from higher ground, I never thought such classical tactics could be this effective.'_

"ZEROO!!" Jeremiah roared, rising from the shattered earth and charging at him on his orange steelix.

"_Oh, you're still in the army?"_ Zero sneered, dodging around his shiny steel serpent. "_Sorry, I don't have the time to deal with you, Dunsparce."_

Jeremiah almost choked in rage, "D-DUNSPARCE!?" He managed, his face contorted into one that simply screamed 'Oh you did not just go there!' "DIE!!"

He was blasted unceremoniously aside by a wave of black and golden flame that surged up from all around him. There was a piercing cry from a bird of prey, and a massive phoenix burst out of the trees, the black flames trailing in its wake.

"Nice job, Ho-oh!" called Kallen, riding on the bird's back. "Now, let's let them see just what the Black Knights are capable of!"

With a single beat of it's wings, Kallen's ho-oh sent a whirlwind of black and gold at the stunned Jeremiah and his Steelix, the winds picking them up and blasting them out of the battlefield. Proudly, it shrieked in victory, before swooping forward as Kallen leapt onto her Gurren to stand between Zero and the Britannian soldiers.

"_The situation is now clear."_ Zero announced as the path erupted into Sacred Fire. "_All the pieces are in place. All that remains is to put the opponents king into check."_

* * *

Kallen's Gurren brought a Britannian officer's aggron to the ground with a Low Kick, then she unleashed her ho-oh's Sacred Fire upon the officer, cremating him beautifully.

"LORD KEWEL!!" Villetta screamed as her commander died. With Gurren's speed and ho-oh's attack power, Kallen was almost unstoppable.

"_Alright, Gurren, continue to the designated area."_ Zero ordered her atop his raikou as more knights rode their pokémon and grouped behind him.. "_The rest of us will break through and head towards Cornelia."_

_\_ "Hai!" _\_ Kallen reported, Gurren sliding down into the forest.

Lelouch let his troops disperse, tracking their progress through his scanner.

Some were losing their resolve, some were injured, some had been wiped out, but most were pressing on. _'Yes move.'_ Lelouch prayed to himself. '_If you live through this fight, you will truly be warriors! Then…'_

* * *

Right now, he and the Knights with him were being pinned down by a surge of rock and fire attacks. "Hey, shouldn't we ask Kallen for support?" one Knight asked.

"_NO!"_ Zero shouted. "_If she changed position now, then the whole plan fails!"_

'_Still, this is not an ideal position.'_ Lelouch admitted to himself. _'Soon we'll be forced to take on the honour guard…'_

_\_ "Zero, Cornelia's group is being attacked from behind!" _\_ Kallen reported.

" _What?"_ He asked. "_Which group moved on her?"_

_\_ "It's not us, I think it's Team Rocket, but their pokémon are huge!" _\_

'_So someone saw through my plan…'_ Lelouch pondered. _'Impressive. In that case, they should be able to take care for the honour guard…'_

At this point his sandslash and lucario burst from the ground in the centre of the enemy squad, confusing them and attacking from the inside as Zero led the charge to finish them.

* * *

Lelouch led his unit to the gorge where Kallen's ho-oh was locked in combat against Cornelia's tyranitar, the rest of their parties battling as well. "_It's over, Cornelia!"_ Lelouch bragged, raikou growling menacingly. "_You're already in checkmate."_

"ZERO!" Cornelia shouted.

"_Yes."_ Lelouch smirked. "_We should celebrate our reunion. First, though, I'd like you to come with us. We have much to discuss."_

Cornelia glared at the masked trainer standing atop the cliff. "_Your reinforcements will not make it in time."_ Zero told her. "_I win, Cornelia."_

"Foolish Zero." Cornelia growled, turning to Kallen who was still riding Gurren the scizor and sending out a camerupt. "If I can just beat that one, then I WIN!"

The scizor easily dodged the cumbersome beast's bursts of fire as Cornelia's tyranitar pushed ho-oh back and rammed the stout spear it held towards Gurren.

The bug type easily deflected the weapon and punched through the behemoth's stone armour, knocking it out as a bullet shot through Cornelia's shoulder blade.

"Coward…" She grunted, gripping her bleeding back. "You'd shoot a trainer from behind in the middle of a pokémon battle!?"

"_Oh? So your plan to surround and ambush Team Rocket was not cowardly?"_ Zero sneered as Cornelia began relaying a message into her communicator. "_Or was it honourable when you were the one with the gun?"_

She forced herself up and dropped the Pokénav. "An underhanded Eleven like you would never understand. I will fight to the last!" She declared, drawing her cutlass with her one good arm, letting her injured left fall limp to its side. "AS A PRINCESS OF BRITANNIA!!"

"_What a boring choice… __A patriot and a hypocrite to the end…"_ Lelouch sighed as Gurren back-handed the princess against the wall, knocking her unconscious just as Kallen was launched into the air by an unseen force. "_WHAT!?"_

The smoke cleared and Princess Cornelia was being carried fireman style by mewtwo, Gurren standing a safe distance behind, but Kallen being held in the air.

"LANCELOT!" Suzaku shouted from behind his mask, landing in the trench to take Cornelia as ho-oh swooped in and took Kallen from mewtwo's control.

"_TAKE THAT THING DOWN!!" _Zero shouted as ho-oh swooped in towards mewtwo, who caught its beak in one hand.

Ho-oh then flapped its wings and stone blasted at mewtwo, knocking it back so ho-oh could blast a wave of sacred-fire at it, hitting the genetically modified pokémon head on.

The damage was severe, its power dampening armour buckling and smoldering under the heat. Darting back to gain some distance, mewtwo used Recover to heal his injuries, its burns receding and healing until they were merely shiny welts.

"AGAIN!" Kallen shouted, but ho-oh only coughed up air. "Out of PP already..?"

Lelouch could see where this was going, and it was not in his favor. "_This has become a battle of attrition-_ _ALL UNITS, RETREAT!"_ He ordered. "_Kallen, get everyone off this mountain!"_ Raikou then blasted a thunderbolt at Lancelot and leapt over the cliff in the opposite direction. "_COME ON THEN!!"_

After a few moments, Suzaku and his armoured mewtwo were pursuing Zero, leaving the Black Knights free to escape. Raikou moved as fast as the lightning it channeled, darting between trees and dodging telekinetic projectiles in an effort to put distance between Zero and his equally fast pursuers.

After a few moments, however, a surge of flying stars made raikou trip and Lelouch went flying, rolling in the dirt as Lancelot and Suzaku stopped by his side, towering over him.

Lelouch spun around and got to his feet, returning his injured raikou and getting ready to fight or run like hell.

"Stop it!" a woman shouted behind Lelouch. "Do not touch this man!"

'_C.C.!?'_ Lelouch realised. "_What are you doing?!" _He shouted as C.C. stepped forward and touched mewtwo on the face. "_You don't know what you're dealing with!"_

Mewtwo merely stared at the witch, suddenly intently curious.

"I can't have you dying." C.C. told him, an ominous wind blowing her hair. "Besides, this is worth trying."

"D-dad..?" Suzaku gasped, falling to his knees as mewtwo turned in interest. "It- it can't be! Y-you're dead! NO!" He screamed, clutching his head. "I DIDN'T MEAN IT! I… I!!!"

"_Oi, what're you doing to him?"_ Lelouch asked C.C., stepping forward cautiously. "_You're not giving the pokémon a Geass are you?"_

"Don't be absurd, that'd be impossible." C.C. groaned. "And shouldn't you be more concerned for your friend?"

"Don't worry." She said before Lelouch could say anything. "I'm just showing him a shocking image through this pokémon's psychic connection to him, though I don't know what he's seeing." She turned to Lelouch. "Anyway, get out of here." She ordered him. "Now's your chance."

"_What about you?"_

"I can't move yet, just go!"

"_Not a chance."_ Lelouch told her, reaching out and grabbing her shoulder. "_I will not be indebted to you-"_

C.C. gasped. "NO!" She screamed. "NOT NOW!"

It was too late. Lelouch was bombarded of images, seemingly from a time long gone. _'What is this..?'_ He asked, seeing a mob attack stone house. _'It's not like before…'_

The scene changed, and Lelouch saw a nun with the mark of a Geass on her forehead, and then the gates to a Japanese shrine. _'W-what is this!?'_

'_N-no!'_ came C.C.'s voice in his head as he saw her bathing naked in a river, nursing a deep scar under her left breast. _'STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!!'_

But he couldn't. He just saw more and more, of wars, of torture, of children crying and soldiers dying. _'Stop it…'_ C.C. begged. _'Why… I'm… so open…'_

Lelouch saw more; his mother, Suzaku's father, a blue haired scientist looking into a large glass tube. _'I HAD TO DO IT!!!'_ Suzaku screamed.

Then they saw each other.

Only for a second, but Lelouch saw Suzaku and Suzaku saw Lelouch.

Then the screams came, blocking out everything else except the shadows limping along the great canvas of white.

And Suzaku screamed.

Lelouch gritted his teeth and pulled his arm away from C.C., then turning around to grab her arm again and take it away from mewtwo. Suzaku fell to the ground screaming and mewtwo suddenly snapped. A ripple of power burst from the pokemon, ripping the remains of it's dampening armour from it's grey skin. Lancelot roared, a bizarre warbling cry, blasting psychic energy everywhere as it rose into the air.

Lelouch caught his first glimpse of it's face. Oddly tranquil, he couldn't help but muse how strange it looked. Its bottom jaw was so thin, unnaturally so…

Then the world began to explode around them and he was snapped from his thoughts. "_WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?"_ Lelouch shouted in the chaos.

"NEVER MIND THAT JUST RU-"

C.C. stumbled as blast of raw energy forced Lelouch and her back. "_C.C.!!"_ Lelouch shouted, rolling out from under her to see her ribcage exposed, daggers of stone piercing her organs. Without question, Lelouch knew it was a fatal injury.

"Just… run…" She choked, slumping over.

Filled with shock and fury, Lelouch tore of his helmet and stood up. "STOOOOP!" He roared.

Suzaku kept screaming, but mewtwo just looked at Lelouch with murder in its eyes. An orb of faintly visible green energy had formed around it, electricity cracking across the boundaries of the sphere.

"He doesn't want this." Lelouch told mewtwo, refusing to back down from the beast.. "If you have any respect for that human, stop this wanton destruction and HELP SUZAKU DAMMIT!"

Mewtwo glanced down at the whimpering Suzaku, then back at Lelouch. "He's strong." Lelouch continued. "And he will continue to be strong if you just allow this lapse of his and help him!"

The wind and thunder died down as Mewtwo descended. It picked Suzaku up and threw him onto its shoulder before shooting Lelouch a look that said _you had better be right, human._

Lelouch let out a sigh of relief as mewtwo left, then replaced his mask and returned his attention to C.C.'s body.

The fact that she was alive and breathing wasn't what shocked him the most.

It was the fact that her skin was already sealing.

'_I don't believe this woman is even human.'_ Lelouch thought, picking her up gingerly and calling metagross out to carry them to shelter.

* * *

Once they were in the cave, Lelouch stripped her and wrapped her up in Zero's cloak, using her torn dress as a pillow. '_Her vital signs are just like any human's…'_ he noted, brushing her forehead. _'I'll have to analyse the blood sample I took later on.'_

C.C. rolled over in her sleep and whispered something. _'What?'_ Lelouch thought, moving his head closer so he could hear her as a drop of water fell from a stalactite and into the pool of water.

The cave was quiet, quiet enough to hear a drop of water fall from a stalactite into the pool of water.

It was quiet enough to hear her whisper a name.

"You finally called my name…" C.C. managed.

"What?" Lelouch asked, sitting back against the rock. "Honestly…" He sighed, tossing the tissue with C.C.'s blood on it into the water.

* * *

"I cleaned your wounds and removed the shrapnel." Lelouch told C.C. as she began to sit up.

"No need." She said, holding Zero's cloak close to her body.

"So it would seem."

"You didn't have to save me." C.C. pointed out. "Why are you so unnecessarily proud?"

"Because I'm a trainer." Lelouch sighed, before chuckling. "Well, either way, today I learnt something interesting, Cera."

C.C. gasped, then glared at Lelouch. "You shouldn't have been eavesdropping." She told him.

"It's a nice name." Lelouch smirked, turning away. "I can't fathom why you'd choose C.C. over a human name like that."

"Don't be ridiculous." C.C. said shamefully. "Nothing about me is human. After all, I… I…" Lelouch glanced at her from the corner of her eye. "I forgot everything… All of it." She sounded as if she was about to burst into tears. "I can't have a name…" She touched the scar under her breast. "No name… no name…"

Dri-drop.

Lelouch turned around, averting his gaze. "Well, now is as good a time as any." He told her. "Yes, you saved me back there. And many times previously, not to mention giving me the Geass." He admitted. "So… I won't say this twice."

Lelouch turned around to face the water so she couldn't see his face. "Thank you."

"…That's the first time… anyone's ever thanked me for anything…" C.C. told him, bursting into tears. "Well then… would you mind returning the favour..?"

Lelouch turned around slightly. "Call me again…" She pleaded with tears in her eyes. "Like you did before…"

"Oh, your name?" Lelouch asked, turning fully.

"Just once." C.C. asked. "Kindly and gently, like my lover would."

Lelouch sighed. "Very well."

He walked over to her and knelt down beside her, embracing her gently as he rested his head on her shoulder. "Cera…"

He then let go and looked at her. "How was that?"

C.C. laughed. "Horrible." She told him. "Your pronunciation was off, you sound nothing like my lover, and you call that an embrace?"

Lelouch sighed, standing up. "You're such a sandshrew." He told her.

"Of course I am." C.C. told him. "After all, I am C.C.."

* * *

A few minutes later, Kallen ran into the cave, with C.C. wearing Zero's dress shirt under her white dress to preserve her modesty. "ZERO! Thank arceus, we thought you might have-" Kallen exclaimed, before seeing C.C. "Who are you!?"

"_Don't worry, Kallen. She is a…__ dear friend of mine." _Zero told her, before glancing at C.C., a thought occurring to him. "_C.C., I do not know why white snow is white, but I do find such white snow to be beautiful."_ He turned to her fully. "_I don't dislike it at all."_

"I see…" C.C. said with a mildly surprised face.

"_Well then."_ Zero declared from behind is mask, swishing his cloak around and walking towards Kallen. "_Let us be on our way."_

Kallen and C.C. paused to glance at each other with evaluative eyes before they followed him out of the cave, so they weren't visible from the outside when Rivalz grabbed Zero by the shoulder.

"LULU!" He shouted, collapsing onto Zero's chest with a bloody stump where his right arm should have been . "Help me… PLEASE!!"

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

You know what? I'll leave it there for the weekend. Because I can.

I will, however, give an explanation next chapter. If I get enough people shouting WTF!?

Yeah. Replacing Knightmares with pokémon had a lot of unforeseen consequences.

Such as Rivalz knowing knowing that Zero is Lelouch. What.

So, Happy Birthday to me!


	9. Team Rocket

I'ma getting started on the next chapta!

But first, allow myself to brush up on whatever went on in chapter eight. Can't be that important, can it?

Hm, hmhmm… okay, that's pretty important.

In fact, I reckon that I really ought continue right from there.

But what I do know is that this is the point where the opening theme changes. Oh, it's still Colours, but it's a little different now.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"_R-Rivalz!"_ Zero shouted as the young man collapsed, unconscious as Kallen and C.C. ran out of the cave behind him.

"Not good." C.C. pointed out. "He appears to know who you are."

"Eh?" Kallen asked her, then her eyes widened as her brain processed what was going on. "Wait… Lelouch!?"

Lelouch just set Rivalz onto the ground and began to bandage the wound with his cloak. "_Kallen._" He said. "_We need ho-oh to fly us to the nearest hospital quickly."_

"Huh?" She asked. "Uh, right!" She declared, summoning the phoenix and climbing onto its back.

"_I trust that you can drop him off __without attracting attention__ and meet us in the city."_ Zero told her, handing her the unconscious Rivalz. "_C.C. and I will make it down the mountain on foot and meet you there."_

'_He's dressed in a soldier's uniform.'_ Lelouch noticed. _'And his mission knife is weeping with blood… did he cut his arm off himself?'_

He tore his helmet off and looked Kallen in the eye. "GO!" He shouted.

She didn't need telling twice. She set off at speed as Lelouch replaced his mask and jumped onto his metagross, carrying C.C. along the mountain side, rushing through the forest and down the slope. Creating a secret base with his sandslash when he was almost at the bottom, he entered the shelter and got changed into some casual clothes as sandslash began to burrow a tunnel under the avalanche wall. With the army scrambling above to re-establish chains of command and recover their wounded, there was little risk of them being found.

It took an hour to get out, but soon he and C.C. were in the town undiscovered.

* * *

Lelouch led C.C. into a clothes shop that was, amazingly still open (thanks in no small way to geass) and bought her a change of clothes to replace her bloody and tattered dress. She left dressed in a white skirt, black top and a red beret. "Come on." Lelouch told her as he paid the shopkeeper. "We need to deal with Rivalz."

"Most men would compliment a girl on her looks." C.C. pointed out, giving Lelouch a little twirl.

"I might have just caused one of my best friends to hack his own arm off with a knife, then walk along a battle field of a mountain with a bleeding stump, and he certainly knows that I am Zero." He glared at her. "I'm understandably preoccupied."

"Well, whatever." C.C. sighed, linking an arm into Lelouch's, making him flinch somewhat in surprise. She ignored the intensified glare he sent her. "Let's go see him then."

* * *

Kallen was waiting in the corridor in a modest dress with her hair brushed down when Lelouch and Zero walked in. "Lelouch…" Kallen said, standing up.

"How is he?" Lelouch asked her.

She stepped forward and rammed her forearm under his chin and slammed him against the wall. "Never mind that." Kallen said, pinning Lelouch's neck back to trap him, a pokeball slipping into her hand from her sleeve- the safari ball containing Gurren. "Why are you Zero?" she demanded, before sending a sideways glare at C.C., holding the pokeball up threateningly. "Don't even think of interfering. This is between him and me."

C.C. twiddled with a lock of her hair, uninterested. "Of course. It's difficult to interrogate someone when you deprive them of oxygen like that though. Are you new to this?"

Kallen gaped in surprise at the green-haired witch, and Lelouch took the opportunity to lower Kallen's arm on his neck. She whirled around at him, but he sidestepped her and raised his hands defensively in front of him. "I'll explain that to you and Rivalz, but for now I'd appreciate it if you could keep my secret." He told her, opening the door to Rivalz's room, where a nurse was tending to him.

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Cardemonde isn't seeing any visitors right now." The nurse told Lelouch.

"**I think you'll find that he is taking visitors right now.**" Lelouch told her. "**Lower the anaesthesia so I can speak with him and leave.**"

"Understood." The nurse bowed, lowering the dosage as Kallen and C.C. walked in and Rivalz began to stir.

Lelouch pulled up a stool and sat next to his friend's bedside as the nurse left, Rivalz turning his weary face to look at Lelouch. "Hey… Zero…" Rivalz laughed weakly.

"So… you really did figure it out…" said Lelouch, half to himself.

"Why the hell would Rivalz know before me!?" Kallen shouted.

"That's what I would like to know." Lelouch replied, putting one of the seats in the room beside his injured friend's bed. "Rivalz, tell me how you figured it out and I'll give you a full explanation."

"Come on man." Rivalz groaned, trying to get up. He slipped back down, the anesthesia making his remaining arm too weak to hold his weight. Lelouch pressed the control for the bed and the upper half inclined forwards, letting Rivalz sit up. He smiled weakly in thanks before continuing. "I've seen you battle more than anyone else. I'd recognise you in a scrap a mile away. And cheers about this!" He laughed, holding up his bandaged stump.

It was barely a shoulder. "What happened Rivalz?" Lelouch asked, using all his resolve not to flinch away from the sight of his friend's missing limb.

"Eh, got my arm caught in the landslide." He shrugged as Kallen flinched, holding her own arm in shame. "It got totally crushed, and I had to use my knife to cut myself out, which the doctors said probably saved my life in more ways than one, since it kept the adrenaline going and stopped me from going too deep into shock. And hey, now I can get automail, so that's kinda cool…"

"I'm sorry." Lelouch apologised. "But what were you-"

"Free badges as you advance through the ranks and you can catch as many wild pokémon you want." Rivalz groaned. "The Britannian army pays pretty well too, but now…"

Both Kallen and Lelouch understood his meaning. His military career was finished. Brittania, no, the world was a place where only strength was respected. It looked down on those with disabilities, like Nunally. Like Rivalz, now. Even if he were to try get a robotic prosthetic limb, the army wouldn't give him a second glance. He'd just be discarded, rejected by society.

Lelouch looked down. "My name is Lelouch Vi Britannia." He admitted. "My mother was Marianne Vi Britannia, and I am the eleventh Prince of Britannia.

The room fell silent. "My mother was murdered by someone in Britannia, and I want to find out who did it, avenge her death, and completely overthrow and destroy the Britannian Empire that took my mother's life and my sister's legs and sight.  
"In Shinjuku, I found a gun, and killed a unit of soldiers who wanted to kill all the witnesses." Lelouch continued, using the story he'd prepared on the way there. "I then used that as my chance to guide the rebels there to victory, and then I became Zero."

"I- what?" Kallen managed.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Rivalz protested. "_You're_ a _prince!?_ O_kaaay, _I think the nurse gave me _one _too many painkillers…" He blinked in shock, then shared a glance with the equally speechless Kallen.

In unison, they looked straight at Lelouch. "Seriously?!"

"The only other ones who know are Nunnally, Milly, Suzaku and Sayako." Lelouch continued, ignoring their reactions. "Officially, I died during the war. After that, I became Lamperouge."

The redhead and the amputee were too shocked for words. "So, to review, my real name is Lelouch Vi Britannia, I became Zero to avenge my mother by creating my own personal army, the Order of the Black Knights, to overthrow Britannia for the selfish reason of revenge, and to create a better world for my sister to live in. Any question?"

"You're a prince?" Kallen asked in disbelief.

Lelouch stoked his forehead with a groan. "Any _sensible_ questions?"

"Where do I sign up?"

Lelouch's jaw dropped as Rivalz grinned cheerily behind the pain. "I mean, after they strap a robo-arm onto me." Rivalz said. "You're all nuts, but since I hacked my own arm off, I might as well join the club, right?"

* * *

"It wasn't your fault." C.C. told Lelouch as Kallen flew them on ho-oh over the cloud line, the bird's aura radiating heat around them. Few flying pokémon could reach that high without freezing either themselves or their trainers, so this let them move with relative stealth.

"The landslide was my plan." Lelouch replied, angry with himself, before taking a deep breath. "I knew people would die, that was rather the point, but even if I knew Rivalz was there…" he sighed. "I probably still would have gone through with it."

"Good."

C.C. and Lelouch both turned to Kallen. "I'm disappointed that Zero turned out to be someone like you, but at least you're as determined as the rest of us." She then turned around and glared. "Although, Ohgi said something interesting earlier."

"What was it?" Lelouch asked.

Kallen turned forward to focus on flying ho-oh. "He said that Britannians see humans as pawns in a giant game of chess, but Zero doesn't." She paraphrased. "He said that if you did think like that, then we wouldn't follow you. Zero's as much a part of this war as the rest of us, and he fights alongside us. That's why we follow him."

'_I don't see you as my pawns.'_Lelouch thought to himself._'I took you from being aimless pawns and led you through the enemy lines, and you came out as my knights, my bishops, my rooks and my queens. __And I am the king, right there on the board beside you…__'_

He kept that thought within his own head, however. "While I do enjoy a game of chess, I'm a pokémon trainer." Lelouch said instead. "Treat your pokémon with respect, and they respect you in return. Prove yourself as worthy of their power, and they fight for you. Take ho-oh for example." He suggested, stroking a red feather. "You are the only one this pokémon will accept, because it knows that you are deserving of its power and treat it with respect."

"So you see us as your pokémon then?" Kallen asked in disgust.

"I see you as my allies, so yes, I suppose I would." Lelouch said. "As a trainer, you should know that's a good thing."

"I suppose…" Kallen sighed. "So, what was all that about 'life being better if you did nothing at all' crap?"

"A ruse to throw off your suspicions about me." Lelouch admitted. "It worked for a time, did it not?"

Kallen sighed, focusing her attention on flying.

* * *

Lelouch opened the door to the Student Council room the next afternoon. "If you're so worried about it, why not ask him yourself?" Milly asked Shirley before turning to Lelouch. "What do you think?"

"Eh?" Shirley gasped, before turning to Lelouch. "L-Lulu! I thought you were staying home today!?"

"Nunnally had a fever and Sayako was out for the morning." Lelouch explained, walking over to the table.

"Oh, I-I see…" Shirley laughed with embarrassment. "Is Nunnally alright now?"

"I suppose so…" Lelouch shrugged, before turning to Milly. "Where's Rivalz?"

"Dunno." Milly shrugged. "I haven't seen him since Friday. ANYWAY!" She pointed at a pile of documents. "Sort those into their respective grade groups, if you will!"

"Sure, sure…" Lelouch sighed, scooping the papers up in his arms, annoyed that he didn't have an excuse to go visit Rivalz yet. "Ever the slave driver, aren't you?"

Milly smiled. "I'm so glad to have such a capable underling."

"Underling?" Lelouch asked as he walked out of the office. "Well, I suppose I am."

* * *

"LULU!"

Lelouch turned to see Shirley running at him desperately. "What is it?" Lelouch asked, hoping like hell it was news on Rivalz.

"I-is there a letter for me mixed up in that paperwork?" Shirley asked, stopping.

Lelouch's face fell slightly, but he recovered before Shirley noticed. "Let's see…" He muttered, fingering through the papers. "Ah, here it is." He said triumphantly, taking the envelope and handing it to her.

She didn't take it. "Hm? What's the matter?" He asked her.

Shirley didn't say a word for a moment, before standing bolt-upright. "Lulu!"

"Yes!" Lelouch reported.

"M-My father sent me tickets to tomorrow night's Master Class Pokémon Contest!" Shirley told him awkwardly, pulling the tickets out of the envelope.

"Eh?"

"My dad has to live apart from us, for his work, but he always sends me stuff like this to cheer me up!" Shirley told Lelouch awkwardly. "So, do you…"

She forced the tickets onto his chest. "Don't be late!!" She shouted before turning and running back to the student council office to bury her head in a bucket of water.

* * *

Lelouch was still thinking about it during the Black Knights meeting that evening, only to be brought back to reality when Ohgi handed him a folded up piece of paper. "_What's this?"_ Zero asked, taking the paper.

"A love letter." Ohgi sighed.

"_Oh? From you?"_Lelouch asked, an unseen smirk under his mask.

Tamaki burst out laughing. "Honestly!" He shouted. "Who says this guy doesn't have a sense of humour?!"

"Honestly, Tamaki, it's not _that_ funny..." Complained an annoyed Kallen, glancing at Lelouch momentarily.

"It's a letter form the Team Rocket head office." Ohgi explained. "They say that they want to meet you in person."

"_Is that such a big deal?"_ Zero pondered aloud.

"Big deal?" Kallen asked. "It's Team Rocket itself!"

"If they like what they see, they're sure to support us financially." Ohgi explained. "Our money problems will be-"

"_Money?"_ Zero asked, throwing Ohgi off. "_I was under the impression that we had plenty, so long as we stuck to the budget."_

"Well…" Ohgi sighed, glancing at Tamaki.

"I-it's not _my_ fault!" Tamaki shouted, somewhat too quickly for his own good. "We're a huge organisation! More money means more expenses!"

"Expenses like the expensive dinners you treated the new recruits to, mister bigshot?" Kallen taunted with a grin.

"Hey." Tamaki threatened.

"I know where you go, too." Kallen continued, leaning closer to him.

"Y-you do?" He asked fearfully, cowering from the red-haired trainer's wrath.

Lelouch sighed. "_Anyway, let's have Ohgi deal with our finances from now on."_

"Hey, I've always handled the money!" Tamaki shouted, getting to his feet. "Don't you think-"

"_If you want me to trust you, you must show me that you're trustworthy."_ Zero told him. "_Remember what I went through to prove myself to you?"_

"Tch." Tamaki grunted, falling back into his seat with folded arms. "You won't even show your comrades your face." He glared at his leader. "How about it!?"

"Hey, hold on." Ohgi intervened, everyone in the room looking at them.

"It doesn't matter who Zero really is." Kallen stated, standing to her feet. "He's proven himself with his victory over Cornelia, didn't he? Without him, we wouldn't have a chance of beating Brittania! What more can you possibly ask!?"

"_It is a fair question, admittedly."_ Zero stated.

Everyone turned to Zero in shock, especially Kallen.

"_The reason I do not show my face is because if I do, you will question my motives because of who I am. I don't blame you."_ He stated, taking in the confusion of everyone in the room. "_I wouldn't trust me as your leader in your position either."_

"_However. You trust Zero as your leader because you do not know who I am behind this mask."_ Zero continued. "_There will come a time when my true face will no longer be an issue, and on that day, I will tell you who and what I really am._" Lelouch looked around the room. "_That is a promise, so until then, please, trust in Zero._"

'_That was good.'_ Lelouch smirked to himself, seeing the faces of the Black Knights filled with resolve. _'That was really, really good-'_

"You're a Britannian, aren't you?"

Lelouch turned to Tamaki. "_Team Rocket was founded by an Italian."_ He pointed out. "_So like I said; my identity is none of your concern as of now._"

* * *

'_I've managed to narrow Team Rocket's current leader down to ten possible candidates, if Giovanni hasn't returned from hiding.'_ Lelouch pondered to himself as he browsed through the faces on his computer. _'The rest is completely up to chance… I'll have to improvise this one.'_

There was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Lelouch asked in a deep voice as he reached for his mask.

"It me." Kallen said. "Listen, I'm sorry for Tamaki's behaviour earlier…"

"Kallen." Lelouch said in his normal voice. "Before… did you want to see my face yourself?"

She hesitated, before answering "No, I apologise."

* * *

Lelouch looked into Nunnally's room when he returned that night. "Brother?" She asked, sitting up in her bed.

Lelouch walked in with a smile. "Looks like your fever's gone down at least." He noted happily.

"It seems I was just moping around." Nunnally smiled.

"Moping?" Lelouch asked.

"It feels like we've grown apart lately, Lelouch." She sighed, lying back down.

Lelouch gasped as Nunnally stuck her tongue out. "And I guess my illness just reflected that…" She said, turning to face her brother.

Lelouch knelt down and grasped her hand. "I swear, I will never change." He promised her. "No matter what happens, I will always be by your side, Nunnally."

"Then, can I ask you a favour?" She asked him. "Would you just hold my hand a little longer? I feel like I'll have that terrible dream again if I fall asleep alone."

Lelouch tightened his grip as an unspoken promise to stay. He remembered the Hypnotherapy his sister had been through.

Drowsee and hypno were skilled at isolating and eating dreams, and though they disliked the take of nightmares, they could be trained to devour them regardless.

Except for Nunnally's nightmare. Her nightmare made the pokémon throw up.

Lelouch didn't blame them.

* * *

"Do you really have a favour to ask of me?" C.C. asked Lelouch the next morning in her new white dress.

"Yes." Lelouch nodded. "I'd like to take advantage of that hint you gave me. No matter what Team Rocket's intentions might be, I want them on our side."

"Is that what you want?" C.C. asked. "If it's necessary for your continued life, I could lend you a hand."

"Indeed it is." Lelouch told her, moving closer to the witch. "C.C., I need your help."

Her face softened momentarily. "Very well. Oh, and you forgot this." She added, handing him the tickets Shirley had given him.

Lelouch snatched them from her. "I didn't forget it." He snapped. "I don't know when I'll be back tonight, so I was going to call her and cancel."

"You should keep your appointments." C.C. suggested, just as Lelouch's pokénav rang.

"It's Shirley." He said, putting it to his ear. "Good timing, I was about to call you."

_\_ "Um, hey, Lulu, about tonight… I might be late." _\_ Shirley told him. _\_ "I'm sure it won't be too long though." _\_

"Is everything alright?" Lelouch asked with concern.

_\_ "Yeah, I'll be there, I promise." _\_ Shirley told him. _\_ "My dad's in hospital, so I'm going to Narita to see him." _\_

"Narita?" Lelouch asked, then it clicked. "Was he caught in that landslide!?"

_\_ "Kinda, but he's okay." _\_ Shirley replied. _\_ "Some rubble broke his leg, so I'm going to see him. The president's with me too." _\_ she added. _\_ "Apparently Rivalz joined the army and got hurt." _\_

'_Finally, no more playing dumb.' _"Rivalz?" Lelouch asked. "What the hell!?"

_\_ "Don't worry, he's going to get more than an earful." _\_ Shirley laughed, clearly unaware of the extent of Rivalz's injuries. _\_ "But, yeah, we'll be late back, so…" _\_

"It's fine." Lelouch told her. "Something came up so I was afraid I might've had to cancel, but if you're going to be late too then we can catch the second half of the contests together."

_\_ "Eh?" _\_ Shirley shouted as a train pulled up. _\_ "Um, gotta go, later!" _\_

Lelouch hung up, then turned to C.C. "So, here's what I need you to do." He told her.

* * *

Several hours later, a car drove through the fog to Zero, who was standing on the mountainside alone. "My boss told me to pick up the rest of your leadership as well…" The driver said awkwardly.

"_They're keeping watch, just in case."_ Zero told the man. "_They'll meet up with us shortly. But first…"_

The slot in his mask opened up to reveal the Geass.

* * *

The figure behind the curtain in the room lectured Zero and the Black Knights while Lelouch hung from the ceiling. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but from their actions, he could tell that they were asking for Zero to remove his mask.

Then came the behemoths. Regirock, regice, registeel and suicune all circled around Zero. _'So they do have multiple legendaries…'_ Lelouch thought. _'Someone somewhere has entei, it's the only way they could have caught ho-oh.'_

Kallen ran to shield Zero, shouting something that still wasn't loud enough for Lelouch to hear properly.

Then Ohgi stepped forward to Zero. He seemed to be uneasy about it, but he reached out to remove Zero's mask.

Zero didn't resist.

Partly because it was C.C. dressed up as Zero.

Kallen started to flip out; demanding to know what the hell was going on.

Then someone ordered the legendaries to attack.

That was Lelouch's cue.

Lightning cracked and Lelouch burst from the ceiling, landing onto raikou. He was dressed in the Rocket Grunt uniform, cap pulled deep over his face, so only his jaw and his black hair was visible. Lightning arced from the beast's body to strike the surprised legendaries, paralyzing them and the grunts around them before the beasts or their trainers had a chance to react. "Your defences are flaccid, your methods and mindsets are hopelessly obsolete." He grinned and stepped off the tiger's back, walking towards the curtain. "That is why you can never win." He taunted.

He stepped forward, raikou walking closely alongside him. "Giovanni Laguada." Lelouch said, approaching the guarded curtain without fear. "The CEO of the powerful Devon corporation, one of the largest distributors of moonstone in the country, and previously the leader of the formidable Viridian Gym, yet you also controlled Team Rocket from the shadows after abandoning the Kururugi administration after the unfortunate death of the prime minister." He grinned. "You triple crosser. How petty."

"How dare you question the chairman's motives!" one guard shouted, reaching for his pokéball.

"STOP!" Giovanni ordered. The guards around him froze at the order, and behind the curtain Giovanni stared at Lelouch's silhouette. "So, Zero, is this audacious display of force meant to be a distraction from your true motives? You have a reason to fight, that much is clear, but it isn't patriotism."

"How perceptive. It's just as you suspected." Lelouch replied, his smirk widening. "I am, in fact, _not_ Japanese."

"Why do you fight then, if not for your race?" Giovanni asked. "What is your goal?"

"To destroy Britannia." Lelouch said, standing before the curtain.

"Do you honestly believe you can do that?" Giovanni asked.

"I can, because I must." Lelouch told him, squatting down and lifting his cap. "I'm glad that you are my counterpart, old friend."

"You!?" Giovanni gasped, then lowered his voice. "I remember… you were brought into my home eight years ago as a political hostage…"

"I must thank you for taking care of me back then." Lelouch whispered, stepping through the curtain.

"Had the representative been someone other than myself, would you have taken him hostage?" Giovanni asked him.

"Of course not." Lelouch said. "I could only have asked his pardon."

Giovanni grinned. "So the eggs I laid eight years ago have finally hatched." He said, making Lelouch ponder this odd metaphor as Giovanni laughed.

"EVERYONE!" the Italian shouted. "This man is without a doubt an enemy of Britannia!" He declared. "I understand why he refuses to show you his face, but this I assure you; have Zero lead, and we shall cover your tracks, help you find a base of operations and finance your endeavors."

"Thank you!" Ohgi shouted as C.C. handed Lelouch the mask of Zero through the curtain.

"_Yes, thank you Giovanni Laguada."_ Zero stated, walking out through the curtain as C.C. slung his cape over his shoulders. "_I am most grateful."_

"Will you embark of this path of blood?" Giovanni asked him, poking his head through the curtain with a vicious grin on his face. "Will you walk down this path of carnage!?"

"_Gladly, if that is indeed my destiny."_

* * *

Lelouch made it back to meet Shirley, walking through the evening gloom as the rain pounded down on him. As he looked for her, he couldn't keep his mind off his success only a few hours before. '_She might've just gone in anyway without me.'_ Lelouch thought to himself. _'Anyway, this is just the beginning. The Order of the Black Knights is finally becoming the organisation I envisioned.' _

Then he saw Shirley, standing sadly in the rain, getting soaked.

Lelouch ran up to her. "Um… sorry I'm late…" He apologised, holding his umbrella out to shield her from the pounding rain. "I was sure you'd already left…"

"…" Shirley didn't acknowledge his presence, and Lelouch frowned, realizing something was very wrong with the usually upbeat girl.

"More importantly, is there anywhere we can shelter from the rain?" Lelouch asked, flailing for something to say.

"Say, Lulu…" Shirley asked Lelouch weakly. "Zero's supposed to be a friend to the weak, isn't he?" She asked.

"Huh?" Lelouch asked with surprised. "Uh, yeah, I think so. That's what he said, anyways."

"Then… why will my dad never recognise me again..?"

"H-huh!?" Lelouch gasped. _'What does she-?'_

"My dad was so kind…" Shirley cried, tears flowing from her eyes. "He never laid a hand on me in anger. He never did anything bad!"

"But the rocks…" Shirley sobbed. "Bashed his skull… he's alive… but… but…" Shirley fell forward into Lelouch's chest, shaking uncontrollably. "HE DOESN'T EVEN RECOGNISE ME ANYMORE!! I DON'T EXIST TO HIM ANYMORE!!!" She screamed.

"Why…" She begged Lelouch. "Why my dad… why… did he take my dad… please… Lulu…" She begged, looking up at him, her eyes lost and filled with grief. "Help me…"

The umbrella fell forgotten onto the street, and the rain continued to pound down on him.

Then she kissed him.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Am I a nasty person? I don't think I'm a nasty person.

I didn't want to kill Shirley's dad, since Shirley's breakdown as down perfectly in the anime, but then again, it wouldn't be the first time I've altered a disaster like this in a fanfiction and pulled it off, am I right?

But yeah, what I did to Shirley's dad isn't much better. Brain damage like that…

You all thought for a second that Shirley was going to get away without getting mind-raped by Mao. She might not, I mean, this is where things really start to change.

Bring on the Maoster.


	10. Resolution

Okay, this time, we change the opening theme for reals. Which is kinda interesting because this is the chapter where we start to diverge.

Also, I really like the second Code Geass opening theme, but I cannot _stand_ the singer in the verse. Does anyone know where I can download the instrumental / karaoke version? Thanks.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_Every action taken has a corresponding consequence. _

_There is no exception to this rule, even for one with a power as great as Lelouch's. Though he possesses the power of total control, the ability to make any human do his bidding, he cannot escape this unchangeable truth._

_Lelouch works to avenge his mother, and to create a world in which his sister Nunnally might live in peace, but the world and those around him are forced to live with his actions, and base their own actions on the consequences. _

_If the result of his efforts are to change the world, then who should bear the blame, and who should be punished?_

* * *

The train back to the school was silent and awkward. It was almost empty, so both Lelouch and Shirley got seats.

"Lulu… I'm sorry."

"Eh?" Lelouch turned to Shirley, confused.

"That wasn't fair." She apologised, her voice bordering on hysterical. "That really, wasn't fair, was it? I just didn't know what else to do… so, just forget it. Sorry to bother you…" She lied, clenching her fists on her knees and looking down at her feet. "I was wrong to do that." She added, turning her head to smile at him. "Okay? Kissing you really didn't mean anything, yeah?"

Lelouch put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "I'm sorry…" He told her. "I'm so, so sorry…"

* * *

"Does it bother you that you involved your friend's father?" C.C. asked Lelouch as she cuddled her new manaphy doll, Jiro floating around her, dancing for attention.

"Eh?" Lelouch was pulled from his thoughts, staring blankly at her as his pokénav buzzed, waiting to be answered.

"I thought you told Giovanni that he was flaccid, and that you would walk down the path of carnage." C.C. reminded him as whoever was calling Lelouch stopped trying.

"Shut up." Lelouch turned away from her, returning his stare at the now silent pokénav.

"You're the flaccid one." C.C. continued, ignoring Lelouch's demand. "Did you think this was a game? You've killed many before, both with your hands and your words, and your pokémon aren't guiltless either."

"_Shut up._" Lelouch repeated, his voice turning into a snarl.

"They too, had families, and lovers, and friends." C.C. explained. "Are you trying to tell me that you didn't understand what you were doing? Were you really so unprepared?" She smirked.

"SHUT UP!" he barked. "I'M COMPLETELY PREPARED!! Since the beginning, since the moment I killed Clovis!"

"Then why are you so hesitant now?" C.C. asked. "Or have your feelings softened your resolve?" She leered. "She forced herself on you, with that kiss."

Lelouch span around to glare at C.C., cuddling her new toy with a smirk as Jiro waved its arms in the background. "In the end, no matter how much self-righteous drivel you spout, you're just a big mouthed, fat headed virgin newbie, aren't you?"

Lelouch grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her onto the bed. He loomed over her, his mouth curled into a furious snarl, but couldn't find a single word to refute the witch. "You no longer have the right to hesitate or turn back." C.C. said, letting her doll slide to the floor and dropping the smirk. "I'm necessary for your continued survival, am I not?"

C.C.'s eyebrows tightened. "Don't disappoint me."

Lelouch's face contorted with rage, then he pushed C.C. aside and stormed off into the bathroom as Jiro incinerated C.C.'s manaphy doll, then snuggled up into her chest.

* * *

Hot water really helps people think.

Lelouch thought about a lot of things in the shower. The things he'd done, the things he'd suffered, the things people had said to him…

The things he was yet to do.

He turned off the water and grabbed his pokénav and dialled a number. "Ohgi." He said into it. "It's Zero."

* * *

Lelouch mulled the information he'd been given in his mind.

Giovanni's fleeing the country with several other Team Rocket leaders, since their cover is pretty much blown, and they're confident that they can leave Japan in the capable hands of the Black Knights, but Diethard, the Britannian reporter who wanted to join the Black Knights, claimed that Cornelia had recently trained several aquatic pokémon to intercept their escape and destroy Team Rocket once and for all.

"_Toudou got separated from the other Holy Blades after Narita, and there isn't a chance of him reaching Team Rocket in time to help their escape."_ Zero told the Black Knights. "_Team Rocket has no serious military force to back them up, and their only defence is threatening to have their pokémon self-destruct and ignite the hoard of moonstone they're carrying on their ship."_

"So we should help them escape before we fight Cornelia!" Ohgi reasoned.

"_Ohgi."_ Zero stated. "_Who are we?"_

"T-The Order of the Black Knights…" Ohgi said.

"_Then we have only one goal."_ Zero declared. "_Destroy Cornelia and absorb Team Rocket's remaining forces! This day! Tonight! We regain what we lost in Narita!!"_

"Can we win?" Ohgi asked nervously.

"_A foolish question."_

Ohgi smiled confidently. "Got it."

Zero turned to the rest of his men. "_Prepare for the operation!"_ He ordered, turning from the stage. "_You all have your orders."_

"Uh, Zero!" Kallen shouted,

"_I have something to do."_ Lelouch told her. "_If you want to talk, it'll have to be later."_

* * *

Lelouch stripped out of his mask, cape and snag arm and looked down at the flak armour he'd taken to wearing.

He wasn't wearing fancy clothes for impact anymore.

These were the clothes of a soldier.

"Relicanth." Lelouch sent out, grabbing his rucksack and diving into the water and grabbing onto the stone fish. "Dive."

A bubble of air formed around his head and the stone fish went under the water, and began carrying Lelouch to the boat.

He had a bomb to set.

* * *

Later, the door to the warehouse where Lelouch was drying in opened. "Who is it?" He asked in a deep voice.

"E-Excuse me!" Kallen shouted.

"Are you having second thoughts?" Lelouch asked her.

Kallen hesitated, but stepped inside. "I've fought this far for justice," She told him, closing the door behind her. "Because I believed it to be the right thing to do. That's why I've killed so many people, but…" She stepped forward. "Is what we're doing really going to change the world!?"

"It can." Lelouch told her. "No, it _must_."

"But-!"

"Will there be sacrifice?" Lelouch asked her. "Yes, and not just soldiers, but innocent bystanders too, just like Shirley's father." Lelouch looked down at the floor. "Even so, despite that… no, _because_ of that, I cannot stop." He glanced at Zero's mask. "Even if I have to cheat or hurt others, I must persevere. To that end…" He picked up his mask and held it in both hands. "I will become carnage incarnate. I must spill more blood, so the blood already spilt will not be in vain."

"But nobody's forcing you to stay." Lelouch told her. "Kallen, if you wish to turn back and leave before we enter hell, now is the time."

Kallen was shocked, but nodded and smiled. "I'll march by your side through the gates, Lelouch." She told him.

Lelouch smiled. "Thank you, Kallen."

_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Ohgi shouted over the radio. _\_ "It's begun! Shall we proceed with the plan?" _\_

Lelouch quickly grabbed the radio. "No." He replied, plugging the radio to his ear as he started dressing. "We can't."

"Eh?" Kallen asked as Lelouch stood up and continued.

"Cornelia made her move sooner that I expected." He explained. "If we go now, none of us will get out alive."

"A-are you serious!?" Kallen shouted as Lelouch hung up to put the mask on.

"_Trust me Kallen."_ He told her as he slid on his snag arm and buckled his cape. "_Tonight, we enter hell."_

He swished his cape as he walked past her, and she turned to follow him. Kallen had made her decision. But still…

She wished she didn't see the detonation trigger in his hand.

* * *

_\_ "The Britannian's have boarded Team Rocket's ship!" _\_ Minami reported desperately a few minutes later.

"_I see."_ Zero commented, watching the chaos.

'_There is only one way out, correct?'_ He thought. _'They won't risk igniting the moonstone._

_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Ohgi shouted. _\_ "WE'VE GOT TO-!" _\_

"_I know._" Lelouch said. "_Move out."_

He pressed the trigger.

* * *

Magikarp are useless.

They are quite possibly one of the most pathetic creatures on the planet.

They would have died out long ago if it wasn't for two things:

One, they evolve into mighty gyarados, and two, before they evolve; they lay hundreds of eggs on anything and everything in the water.

Such as ships.

When Lelouch hit the trigger, a surge of energy tapped into the ship's cargo of moonstone, unleashing a powerful wave of energy that, while having a very short range, forced the millions of useless magikarp eggs on the ship's hull to hatch as fully-formed gyarados.

And these gyarados, confused at their sudden existence and the lack of space, quickly became what gyarados are famous for being.

_Destructive._

* * *

The water under the ship grew dark and surged upwards, before bursting into a pillar of light that reached the clouds as a thousand Hyper Beams cut straight upwards through the ship's hull as if it was paper.

Rockets and Brittanians alike were swallowed up by the deathly light which illuminated the entire bay. All eyes were on that pillar of light as it waned, splitting up into hundreds of lesser beams that came crashing down on the Brittanians, consuming and annihilating the forces assembled in the water.

The last stand of Giovanni Laguada and the terrible Team Rocket would forever be burned into Brittanian memory.

The worst part?

It almost looked like a freak accident.

_Almost._

* * *

"_DAMMIT!"_ Lelouch shouted. "_They used it…"_

_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Ohgi shouted. _\_ "What's going on!?" _\_

"_They used the moonstone to force the magikarp eggs to hatch into gyarados!" _Lelouch shouted, leaving out the minor detail of _him_ being the one to do it. "_Sacrificing themselves and taking out as many Britannian's as possible!"_

_\_ "Why the hell would they do that!?" _\_ Ohgi shouted.

"_Their damned pride!!"_ Lelouch lied. "_Everyone! The rampaging gyarados are attacking all the Britannian units in the water! Take advantage of the confusion and take out the Britannians on the land and capture Cornelia! RESTORE TEAM ROCKET'S HONOUR!!"_

He hung up and laughed. This was almost too easy.

* * *

Zero had timed it perfectly. As the worst of the Hyper Beams faded when the sea serpents were forced to recharge their energy, the Black Knights made their move, riding the wake of the tide straight towards the stunned Brittanian army. A wave of gyarados surged over the horde, the trainers riding them and catching several red gyarados along the way. "_GO!"_ Zero shouted. "_Take them out BEFORE they send out their pokémon!"_

The docks of the Britannian soldiers were obliterated by a wave of Hyper Beams and Dragon Rage. The damage was immense, and those that survived the initial attack were devoured by the rampaging sea-serpents.

"_GURREN!"_ Zero shouted, leaping from his gyarados and onto his crobat. "_WITH ME!"_

"YESSIR!" Kallen replied, riding her scizor into the Britannian soldiers after her leader, slicing through them as Zero flew over head, spreading a haze and confusing the enemy pokémon as he passed. It was too easy- they tore right through the Brittanian's fractured defense.

Zero leapt from his crobat and dropped two pokeballs, landing before Cornelia, who was staring at him with shock, disbelief and hatred dancing in her expression. "DO YOU THINK I'D LET YOU MOCK ME AGAIN?!!" Cornelia shouted, unleashing her tyranitar. The colossal pokemon stampeded for Zero, but was blasted down by an Aura Sphere courtesy of Lelouch's lucario.

Cornelia gritted her teeth and recalled her tyranitar. "I'M NOT DONE YET!" She shouted, throwing a luxury ball into the air. "GO! HEATRAN!!"

Zero's lucario barely dodged out of the way as a massive pokémon emerged from the ball and slammed into the ground below. It glared at Zero's pokémon as it opened it's maw and growled like a volcano preparing to erupt.

"_Lucario, keep your distance and use Aura Sphere again!"_ Zero ordered. Lucario wheeled around and began to gather energy, but suddenly Cornelia's legendary pokémon erupted into flames that poured from its back and maw into the battlefield. Lucario was overrun by the white-hot flames and collapsed, spasming in pain.

"_The hell!?"_ Zero shouted, before recalling his pokémon before it could be fried to a crisp. Sending out a gyarados to unleash a Hydro Pump on the legendary pokémon, he turned his head to shout an order. _"Q-1! Keep Gurren away from the flames and wait for an opening! I'll finish this one off."_

"Don't be so arrogant! Heatran, launch a Stone Edge!" ordered Cornelia.

"_Dodge into the air and counter with Hydro Pump!" _

Zero's gyarados rose swiftly into the air as missiles of sharpened rock were launched around it by the heatran. The serpent roared and shot a blast of high pressure water in retaliation, hitting the legendary head on and chilling it to it's iron bones. _"It's over."_ Zero said, satisfied.

"You think you can trump heatran with a little water!?" snarled Cornelia as the legendary pokémon quickly began to heat up.

"_I think you should pay more attention to what is happening below rather than above, actually."_ retorted Zero. The ground below heatran collapsed as sandslash emerged from its covert Dig attack and was recalled by Zero. The impact from the fall cracked heatran's stone shell, and before it's magma could heal the damage it was blasted by another torrent of water from the enraged gyarados above.

"_Q-1, now!"_ shouted Zero. It wasn't necessary, as the instant heatran had collapsed into the pit, Kallen's Gurren had tackled Cornelia and trapped her down. The Vicerine screamed in pain as the wound on her back re-opened. Zero smirked. It had gone better than he could have possibly hoped.

Then he saw her.

'_SHIRLEY!?'_

"ZERO!!"

Zero got tackled by Suzaku as Lancelot grabbed Lelouch's gyarados by the throat and tail, tearing it in half in a burst of blood. It thrashed about violently in it's dying moments, but Lancelot merely tossed it aside like trash.

"What you're doing won't change a thing!" Suzaku shouted from behind his mask as he wrestled Zero to the ground. "You think the end justifies the means, so YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW INNOCENT BYSTANDERS FEEL!!"

"_You again!?"_ Zero shouted, smashing his elbow into the gap in Suzaku's armour, cracking his neck and rolling out of his grip, getting to his feet and drawing a sword and his sandslash, sending it out.

"Using live people as bait…" Suzaku growled, sending his altaria out as Kallen's ho-oh took on mewtwo. "You're just a murderer… DRACO METEOR!!"

Fireballs fell from the sky, smashing into the ground as Lelouch dodged around them, his sandslash burrowing into the ground as he sent out a weavile. "_Naive idiot! __Why are you always GETTING IN MY WAY!?"_ Zero roared as weavile launched into an Ice Punch at the flying dragon-bird. However, one of the stray meteors collided with it and sent the ice pokémon sprawling back to earth.

"Why do you insist on spilling the BLOOD OF INNOCENTS!?" Suzaku shouted as altaria recharged, then performed a Dragon Dance. "What happened to them…"

"_If it wasn't for you…"_ Zero growled, charging with his blade as Suzaku fell into the shallow pit made by sandslash.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!" Suzaku roared as altaria swooped down and picked Zero up by the shoulders and threw him into the air. Out of the corner of his eye he saw ho-oh veer towards him, only to be cut off by Lancelot.

Lelouch was barely able to return his pokémon to their pokéballs before he smashed into the ground, hard, dislocating his right shoulder and smashing his snag arm.

'_Dammit…' _He managed to think before passing out. _'How… did I survive that…'_

"I'll kill you…" said a familiar voice, sad and full of hatred.

'_Shirley..?_

"To avenge my dad… I'll kill you…"

Then the world turned black.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Know what I love about buffers? Cliff-hangers like this are twice as evil, because I have the next chapter ready to load, but I won't because I'm evil.

Then again, we all know that Lelouch isn't gonna die here. That'd ruin the story.

Though, I am DAMNED proud of the magikarp bomb. Who's the man?

Also, tell me if any lines are repeated or anything, because copying from the betary does not like me.


	11. Broken

hmhm... fun, fun, fun.

Also, Anon, I know magikarp don't evolve from moonstones. They do, however, have mystical powers as the series's magic rocks, so it all depends on how they're used as to what effect they'll have. It was mostly the radio wave that evolved them really, the moonstone just sped up the process far too fast.

And my buffer is seven chapters long, and counting. O_o

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"Oi." C.C. said, shaking Lelouch. "Wake up."

"Ugh… huh?"

"You're lucky to be alive, let alone undiscovered." C.C. told him as she lifted him from the floor into a sitting position. "Hold still."

POP

"Ngh!" Lelouch forced down a scream as C.C. popped his shoulder back in. "Wh-where's my mask?"

"Here." C.C. told him, handing the black helmet over. "Now, you have a battle to win."

Lelouch looked at his situation and at the mask in his hands. "C.C., contact Ohgi and tell him to give the order to retreat." He said, handing her his pokénav. "We've lost this one."

* * *

"It's rather unlike you to be so distressed that you can't give out orders yourself." C.C. pointed out as she hung up the phone. "Cornelia would-"

"My sword's gone." Lelouch told her. "So's raikou. Someone took them while I was unconscious."

"Then… someone saw your face?" C.C. realised.

"At least two people." Lelouch corrected, pointing at the puddles of blood on the floor. "One who stabbed, the other who got stabbed. _There were two._"

"We can assume that one of them wished to defend you." C.C. pointed out. "However, we do not know if that was the one who got stabbed or not." C.C. looked at Lelouch. "Who knows you as Lelouch but does not know you as Zero?"

"My main suspicions are the girls in student council, but it could just as easily be Suzaku, Cornelia at a stretch." Lelouch sighed, replacing his helmet. "_Of course, it could also have been someone who supports Zero and doesn't know me personally. Either way, we need to find shelter away from them until we know for sure."_ He said. "_Let's go."_

* * *

Lelouch waited until the next morning before calling the Student Council room. _\_ "Hello?" _\_ Suzaku answered.

"Suzaku." Lelouch asked urgently. "Is there anything odd going on there?"

_\_ "Yeah, there's something very out of place." _\_ Suzaku said. _\_ "You." _\_

Lelouch furrowed his brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

_\_ "That your place is here with Nunnally instead of pokémon battling wherever on earth you are." _\_ Suzaku laughed.

Lelouch sighed with relief. "Not that." He said. "Is there anything else amiss?"

_\_ "Well, Rivalz is still in hospital, but Shirley isn't here either." _\_ Suzaku told him. _\_ "But, she's been absent a lot lately. She should take her studies more seriously." _\_

Lelouch chuckled. "You are your grades…" He sighed. "You're alone with four beautiful women and you're talking about schoolwork?"

_\_ "Eh, wai, wah!?" _\_

Lelouch snickered. "Tell Nunnally I'll be home late tonight." He said.

_\_ "Again?" _\_ Suzaku sighed. _\_ "What's the point of being in the same school if we never see each other?" _\_

'_We see each other a lot more than you think.'_ Lelouch sighed, rubbing his shoulder unconsciously as Suzaku yelped. "What's wrong?"

_\_ "Nothing!" _\_ Suzaku shouted. _\_ "Hey, clear off! YAGH!" _\_

The line went dead. "What's he doing over there?" Lelouch wondered as C.C. sat up.

"Judging from your conversation-" She started.

"Yeah, he doesn't appear to know." Lelouch finished. "Now we can almost rule out the possibility that the military saw me."

"I don't think anyone would be there other than the military and the Black Knights." C.C. pointed out.

"It could have been a survivor from Team Rocket." Lelouch suggested.

"And he just took your pokémon and your sword?" C.C. asked sardonically.

"I'll have Ohgi look for them on the black market." Lelouch decided, moving over to sit beside her and picking up one of the four pokéballs on the table. "Until then, we have the three Regis and suicune that Giovanni gave me."

"What about the blood?" C.C. sighed, flopping back down onto the settee, using Jiro as a pillow.

"It'll take time to analyse, but we still won't be able to track the owner without a previously identified sample." Lelouch sighed. "Also… I think that I saw Shirley on the battlefield."

"AH, that girl who kissed you?" C.C. remembered.

"Will you let that go?" Lelouch snapped.

"I was just asking, lover boy." C.C. pointed out teasingly, before sobering up. "If you're right, though, then we need to look into it right away."

Lelouch glared, then stood up and tugged his flak shirt off, walking into the bathroom. "First off is to search her room." He decided, closing the door behind him. "I'll just get changed first and then we can be off!"

* * *

After geassing Shirley's roommate to stand guard, Lelouch and C.C. got to work ransacking the room. "Why must I look through a stranger's underwear?" C.C. asked, stretching a pair of panties. "This is going to cost you."

"I know." Lelouch answered, rummaging through drawers.

"It would have been faster if you'd done it yourself." C.C. suggested. "Surely that girl wouldn't mind the man she loved showed such interest in-"

"That's none of your business."

"You've got some weird qualms." C.C. noted, sitting onto a bed and opening Shirley's diary. "Still, I don't see your sword or raikou anywhere, and her diary only goes up to the fourteenth."

"The fourteenth?" Lelouch asked, looking inside his pocket and pulling out the outdated tickets.

"Yeah." C.C. nodded.

"That's the day she found out about her father's condition." Lelouch told C.C., looking at the tickets, dropping the shoebox he was holding.

It banged on the floor, spilling out to show loads of photographs of Lelouch.

"What're these?" Lelouch asked as C.C. bent down ant picked up a handful.

"Pictures of you." She said. "Not just photos though, there's also clippings from some magazines about your exploits as a trainer."

"Me?" Lelouch asked, bending down to pick some up himself.

"You're acting awfully innocent for a guilty man." C.C. pointed out as Lelouch looked at a photo of Shirley's piplup hatching from an egg.

'_I gave her that egg when she joined student council…'_ Lelouch remembered, glancing aside and noticing her train schedule had a bookmark in it.

He opened it up and glanced down the page. It was today's schedule, and one time was slightly smudged at the end, as if Shirley had been rubbing that time with her thumb.

'_Narita…' _Lelouch read, before realising what Shirley was doing. "Let's go." He announced, sending out his alakazam and grabbing C.C. as they teleported for the train station.

* * *

"Do you like this Shirley girl?" C.C. asked him once they were on the train.

"Dunno." Lelouch replied absently.

"Do you hate her?" C.C. asked, rephrasing her original question.

"Dunno."

"Then why are you going to Narita?" C.C. challenged, getting somewhat frustrated with her accomplice.

"Because there's a chance that she knows who I am." Lelouch told her.

"And what will you do if she does?" C.C. asked. "Will you kill her?"

Lelouch's eyes widened in shock at the idea. "You should stay away from those you don't want to lose." C.C. advised him.

Lelouch looked into C.C.'s eyes. ""Do you speak from personal experience?" he asked, trying to figure her out.

"No." C.C. replied, turning to face the window. "It's just my policy."

Lelouch, of all people, knew a lie when he heard one.

* * *

"I thought this was it." Lelouch announced, running towards the memorial built to those killed in his avalanche.

"Do you want us to split up and look for her?" C.C. asked him.

"Do you know what she looks like?"

"Now you ask me?" C.C. sighed. "And yes, I do. Long ginger hair, skinny, well endowed and always shouting 'Lulu'?"

"A rather cynical description, but yes, that's her." Lelouch sighed, setting off in the opposite direction.

* * *

'_The possibility is remote.'_ Lelouch thought to himself as he searched. _'There's no guarantee that she's here.'_

'_Wait, what about the second person?'_ He realised. _'Where did he go, and what happened between him and Shirley?'_

He grunted in frustration. _'I need to calm down, start over from the beginning.' _

Then his pokénav started ringing.

It was Shirley.

"It's me." Lelouch said quickly as he answered it. "Where are you!?"

_\_ "Oh, I wonder." _\_ asked a man's voice.

The voice was also behind him.

Lelouch span round. "Who are you!?" He demanded, looking at the white-cloaked man holding Shirley's pokégear in front of him.

The man had thick, purple headphones covering his ears and a strip of purple fibreglass covering his eyes under his white hair. He pressed a button on the device and tossed it onto the ground at Lelouch's feet. "Bastard…" Lelouch growled. "What have you done with Shirley!?"

"Oh, how nice~!" the strange man sang, clapping his hands flimsily. "What a scary face! The face that says that your woman's been stolen and you're out for blood!"

"WHERE'S SHIRLEY!?" Lelouch roared.

"You want to know?" The man sneered, lowering his hands. "Well, let's have a battle over it. I hear you're good." He suggested, holding a shrunken dark ball between his fingers.

Lelouch reached for a ball on his belt. "Oh, not here~!" The man tutted, pocketing his pocket ball. "Somewhere no-one can disturb us." He giggled, sending out a xatu and using Teleport. The totem bird transported them both to the gondola that ran up to the top of the mountain as it set off from the station, otherwise empty. "Three pokémon each?"

'_Is this man the other witness?'_ Lelouch thought as he reached for his weavile for the type advantage. _'I suppose that the battle is merely a trap, so he can take me to a secluded area, but if that was the case, why not just teleport us there directly?'_

"Weavile!" He shouted, sending the pokémon out as it charged with a Night Slash as the cart began to move.

'_Did he call me on Shirley's phone to intimidate me?'_ He thought as xatu dodged the attack, launching a Heat Wave at weavile. _'No, it was because he didn't know what I looked like…'_ "Icy wind!" _'That means that he didn't have time to get a picture of me…'_

Cold air rushed through the cabin, colliding with the heat from the other man's side, creating sparks of lighting that struck xatu down, but wasn't enough to stop the heat from scortching weavile. "Ooh, not bad~!" the man giggled, clapping as his xatu got back to its feet and used Wish.

'_This was no meticulously planned encounter.'_ Lelouch deducted, ordering his weavile to finish the xatu with an Ice Punch before its wish was granted. _'If that's the case…'_

"Thought you could take advantage of me?" The man asked as he returned his fainted xatu. "You should focus on the battle, don't you think?" A blaziken shot out of the pokeball and ploughed a powerful Blaze Kick right into weavile's ribs, knocking it out and sending it flying to the other side of the gondola. The man grinned wider. "At this rate, you're going to lose."

Lelouch gritted his teeth, cursing the fact that he couldn't use the red gyarados he had captured for the perfect type advantage since Lancelot had killed it last night. "Charizard!" Lelouch shouted, sending out his dragon. "AIR SLASH!"

The dragon roared, tearing through the gondola only to be elbowed in the throat by a massive stone elbow from blaziken as it tore the bird's shoulder open, knocking the dragon out instantly. '_Stone edge…'_ Lelouch realised, deciding that it was time to get serious. "SUICUNE!"

The legendary dog surged from its pokéball, its keen eyes locked onto Mao's blaziken. The temperature of the gondola cabin suddenly dropped and the windows began to condensate from the aura the beast of the north winds emited.

Lelouch's jaw clenched. He knew this legendary would obey him as it had never escaped and gone wild like raikou had at the hotel. "Suicine, Hydro-!"

"Thunderbolt~!" The other man giggled as tossed out a fast ball. Raikou burst out of the pokéball and growled, confused but obedient. Lelouch gaped as the beast of water was struck down by a bolt of lightning from the beast of storms- never before had Lelouch regretted having trained a pokemon so well.

The man laughed as, beside him, his blaziken's shoulder healed. "Does this mean I win?" He asked, applauding himself.

The gondola lurched to a stop.

'_He saw through me completely?'_ Lelouch thought in shock. _'Just who is this guy!?'_

The man grinned at Lelouch happily, recalling the legendary pokémon before it realized who it was fighting and rebelled. "What?" he asked. "Didn't C.C. tell you~?"

That got Lelouch's brain back in gear.

"Well done." The man in white applauded. "You managed to think of sixteen possibilities and then narrow them down to four in an instant! And one of them is right, too!" he added, lowering his purple visor.

'_A Geass user!?'_ Lelouch realised, his single Geass flaring up in response to the man's double barrelled Geass.

"Whoops~!" The man laughed, lifting his visor to cover his eyes again. "You can't use your Geass unless you look directly into the target's eyes, can you?" He asked. "I know all these little rules, you see." He shrugged.

'_You read my mind?'_ Lelouch thought loudly.

"It's the power of my Geass." The man answered.

"Did you hurt Shirley!?" Lelouch shouted, taking a step towards the man. "Did you… DID YOU KILL HER!?"

"Of course not, she's right behind you~!" The man laughed as Shirley knocked on the window closest to Lelouch. "Well then, let's start the penalty game, shall we?" He applauded as Shirley drew Zero's blade from her sports bag.

"Shirley…" Lelouch gasped as the doors opened and the blaziken pushed Lelouch out onto the steps. "That blade…"

"Yes." She nodded, holding the sword out. "It's Zero's sword. Yours, Lulu."

"Use your Geass." The man suggested, walking out behind Lelouch. "You haven't used it on her yet, have you?" Lelouch glanced behind him to see the blaziken's claw hovering behind his head. "Of course, that brilliant mind of yours will get barbecued if you do~."

The man in white applauded at his own deviousness.

'_Is it only my consciousness he can read?'_ Lelouch thought desperately. _'Are there any limits to its use, like mine? What's its time lag, and how long can he keep it up? What does he want anyway? If he wanted to kill me, then…'_

"Yes, think about it!" the man in control taunted. "Use that brilliant strategic mind of yours! Let those cogs spin and spin and spin like a crazed hitmontop!"

"SHUT UP!" Lelouch shouted, turning to face him.

"It's a fitting end to a thief like you." The man chuckled.

"Lulu." Lelouch turned to see Shirley. "Please, just die. Let's repent our sins. We'll die together." She pleaded.

"What sins?" Lelouch asked. "YOU'VE DONE NOTHING WRONG!"

"She stabbed the other witness to protect your secret." The man behind Lelouch explained with a giggle.

'_Then… that bloodstain…'_

"Let's just end it, Lulu." Shirley pleaded.

"Yes, yes, penance for your sins~!"

The penny dropped in Lelouch's brain. "You bastard." He snarled, turning back to the man. "What did you do to her!?"

Then the pound dropped. _'If he can read people's minds, it would be easy to manipulate them! Exposing their weakness's, twisting their thoughts, it's easy if you do it right, even without a Geass…'_

"Yes, yes!" the man laughed, applauding. "That's exactly it!"

"DON'T LET HIM FOOL YOU SHIRLEY!!" Lelouch screamed at her. "HE'S-"

"No, you were the one who fooled her." The man in white corrected, wagging a finger. "It was _all you._"

"STOP IT!" Shirley screeched, closing her eyes and stabbing forward.

"GARGH!" Lelouch screamed, grunting as he felt the sword embedded into the side of his chest. "Shirley, if murder is a sin, then how will more sins achieve redemption?" Lelouch asked her as he reached for her hands, doing some manipulating of his own despite the pain.

"Oooh, you're good!" the man laughed. "You've really got a way with words."

"Did you really kill someone?" Lelouch continued, ignoring his opponent except to point at him. "Or did _he_ just say that the wound you inflicted killed someone?"

"She realised all by herself that there was no need to keep hiding it." The man in white gloated.

"If that was the truth, then I killed Rivalz."

"EH?!" Shirley gasped, opening her eyes in shock.

"No, no, because Rivalz is still alive." The man behind him corrected.

"For all we know, so is the other witness, LIKE ME!" Lelouch snapped, before looking back into Shirley's eyes. "Shirley, Rivalz came to me after cutting his own arm off after it got crushed under the landslide _I MADE!!"_ He shouted. "And do you know what he told me?"

"Wh-what..?" Shirley asked, shaking all over as the man behind Lelouch said something that neither she nor Lelouch paid attention to.

"He told me that he forgave me." Lelouch told her. "Even though that nothing I can ever do will ever make what I did to him right, he forgave me, because he's a better person than I am. None of us are perfect." He told her. "Everyone has things that they're ashamed of. He's just twisting the parts of you that you don't like to make you do something _you know that you don't want to do._"

"Lulu…"

"And I'm sorry." Lelouch told her. "I don't expect you to forgive me, because what I did to your father was unforgivable." He carefully pried the blade from Shirley's fingers. "But don't do this…" He begged her. "Please…"

"Maaaan~, how boring." The man yawned. "Burn 'em."

* * *

A common twist in old western movies is that in a pokémon battle, the trainer who orders his attack second is more likely to survive.

This is because to act, the brain must make a decision, send the message to the body, and then carry it out.

However, to react, the body bypasses the brain entirely and makes the decision without the mind knowing about it.

This was why the mind reader couldn't predict Lelouch spinning around, tearing the sword out of his own chest and slicing the blaziken's burning hand off as it prepared to launch a Flamethrower, then lunge and stab the pokémon in the chest, by which point it was too late to stop Lelouch from bringing his sword up through the blaziken's body, slicing its heart, lung and throat open, killing it with a spray of blood.

The pokémon fell down the steps as Lelouch unleashed his battle cry, charging at the mind-reader with his blade, ready to spill blood for Arceus.

"Whoa there!" the mind reader shouted, dodging back into the gondola, grabbing a rifle from the seat. "Looks like I'll have to kill you both-"

The doors closed on Lelouch's blade, stopping it as it pierced the man's visor, cracking it as he fell back in fear. _'That's right…'_ Lelouch realised. _'Mind-reading isn't much help if the only thought in my head is KILL!!'_

Lelouch pulled the blade back as the gondola began descending down the rail, dropping it on the concrete and running up the steps to catch the collapsing Shirley. "It's alright." He whispered into her ear, helping her to her knees. "It's okay…"

"Lulu…" She said weakly. "I stabbed someone… so…"

He embraced her tightly. "It's alright." He whispered. "It was my fault. It was _not your fault, _Shirley!"

"But… I stabbed you too…"

"But I'm alive." Lelouch told her. "It wasn't your fault, and I forgive you…"

"But…"

"But… I stabbed you too…" she said, nearly hysterical with grief and fear.

"But I'm alive." Lelouch told her. "It wasn't your fault, and I forgive you…"

"But…"

"Lay your sins on me!" Lelouch told her, holding her tightly, staining her coat with his blood. She buried her head in his chest, but did not return the embrace.

"I… I wanted you to comfort me…" Shirley sobbed. "Because… daddy… never would…"

"What's wrong with that?" Lelouch asked.

"But… daddy…" She choked up into another jagged sob.

"Just forget it." Lelouch told her, pulling back and looking into her eyes. "Just forget all the bad stuff."

"I CAN'T!" Shirley shouted, pulling away from him and looking down at the floor with tears pouring from her eyes.

"YOU CAN!"

Shirley looked up at Lelouch. "I can make you forget." He told her.

"No…"

"Shirley, I'm sorry about your dad." He told her as she gazed into his eyes. "If I had to do it all over again, I'd…"

"Lulu?" Shirley asked in fear as Lelouch's Geass flared up. "_NO!!"_

* * *

That evening, Lelouch walked up to the memorial to see Shirley. "Did you lose a family member too?" She asked him.

"No, not a family member." Lelouch told her sadly. "A very, very close friend."

"I see…" Shirley sighed.

"Loss makes you realise a lot of things." Lelouch said as he gripped his bandaged chest under his shirt. "Doesn't it? How much you loved her smile? How you'll never laugh or fight together again?"

"You loved her, didn't you?" Shirley asked him with a sad smile.

Lelouch turned away and looked at the stone floor. "I don't know anymore…" He admitted.

"A new day will come." Shirley told him with a smile. "I didn't even know why I came here until a moment ago. I just needed to see this place one last time. My father's forgotten a lot of things, but I'm sure that we can build a new relationship together, so a new day will come." She smiled. "So there's no need to hold it all in."

Lelouch looked back at the floor with a sad smile. "You're right." He admitted. "I think so too." He turned away from her. "Thank you for everything."

"Huh?" Shirley asked as Lelouch walked away from her, alone in the dark.

She couldn't help but think how lonely his back looked.

* * *

"How do you feel?" C.C. asked him on the train back.

"Awful." Lelouch told her. "But thank you for treating me."

"I need you alive." She told him. "I can't have you committing suicide."

"Well then, if you don't want me dead…" He glared at C.C. "Tell me all about that Geass user, because he sure as hell knows about you."

C.C. looked away. "Can it wait?" She asked. "I need some time to think."

Lelouch leaned forward and grabbed her wrist, _hard._

"No C.C." He growled. "**Tell. Me. Now.**"

"Your Geass won't work on me, remember?" She pointed out, then sighed. "Alright then." She decided. "His name is Mao."

As she explained Mao's story, Lelouch got to work on a plan.

Revenge was in order.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Yes. I am happy with this.

No actually, I'm not happy. Happy is the opposite of what I'm feeling right now.

_Satisfied_, that's the word.


	12. The Madcap Laughs

Buffery, buffery, buffery, buffery!

Also, a reminder: C.C.'s name is pronounced Shi-Tsu. Weird, I know.

And if you can't think of the inspiration for the chapter's title, look up Syd Barrett, formerly from Pink Floyd, specifically his solo albums. Even if you don't know him, you gotta admit that it's a damn fitting title.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_In this world, there exists both evil brought forth with good intentions, and good brought forth through evil. How are the events Lelouch precipitated to be interpreted? Is judgement inevitable, in this world?_

_The Geass. Those who use this inhuman power create unbearable emotional pain, and straddle the line between good and evil. However, if one of them can break free of this grey area, he will truly have gained the key to becoming the master of all._

* * *

"The form a Geass takes varies from person to person, based upon their innermost desires." C.C. explained. "In Mao's case, he can hear the thoughts of anyone within five hundred metres if he concentrates. If he wants to, he can even penetrate the unconscious mind. He's the worst possible opponent for someone like you, who fights using his mind."

"Well, I thought that there might be others apart from myself with a Geass…" Lelouch admitted. "Did he have a contract with you as well?"

"Eleven years ago." C.C. nodded.

Lelouch laughed sarcastically. "Then he's predecessor, huh?" He replied flippantly. "Well then, is this predecessor of mine an enemy?"

"Mao is after me." C.C. told him. "He may be an enemy, but I doubt he plans to outright try to kill you."

"I know that." Lelouch snapped. "If he wanted to, he could have just told the military that I was Zero. Instead, he used Shirley…"

He stopped glaring at nothing and composed himself. Anger would get him nowhere… he needed information. Answers. "What are the conditions of his power?" He asked the witch.

"Mao's Geass is powerful indeed…" C.C. admitted, not looking Lelouch in the eye. "He isn't restricted by eye contact or a number of uses like you are."

"So he has no weakness?"

"If I had to choose, I'd say it's the fact that he can't turn his power off…" C.C. told him. "He constantly hears the chatter of nearby minds, whether he likes it or not."

"Hm?" Lelouch asked. "How so?"

The train pulled into their station. "I'll tell you later." C.C. told him, standing from her seat. "I assume you want us to walk back separately like always?"

Lelouch didn't need to answer, merely getting out of his seat and joining the wave of people as they flooded the corridor of the train.

* * *

'_Assuming Mao really did read my mind, then he will strike me when I'm at my weakest, like he did with Shirley.'_ Lelouch thought to himself, sipping his tea with Nunnally as he studied his laptop screen, showing security footage of around the school. _'In that case...'_

"It's been such a long time since we've been alone together, brother." Nunnally said, pulling Lelouch out of his plans.

"We have to let Sayako have a day off, once in a while." Lelouch told her. "I'll be staying home for a while, in any case."

'_That's right…'_ Lelouch thought. _'After the last mission, we need time to recover the damage we suffered and collect our available resources. Besides, we've made enough of an impression to last for a while. __I can thank Mao for his fortunate timing if nothing else…'__'_

"You've been out so much lately, b irother." Nunnally pointed out. "Have you been at that new Trainer Tower I heard about?"

"Not that, but similar." Lelouch lied. "I lost against my last opponent, but I think that I'll be facing him soon again."

"Eh?" Nunnally gaspedn disbelief. "Someone who can beat you?"

"It's not like I'm the best trainer in the world, Nunnally." Lelouch laughed. "There's always going to be someone better than me."

"That's not right, big brother!" Nunnally tutted. "You should be training hard for your rematch!"

"I am." Lelouch smiled. "My pokémon are ready, but I need to be ready mentally."

Nunnally giggled. "What kind of trainer could make you so nervous?" She asked. "I haven't seen you like this since big brother Schneizel beat you."

Lelouch noticed C.C. sitting in his bedroom, waving at the camera. "Excuse me." Lelouch pardoned. "I'll be right back Nunnally."

"Alright then." Nunnally smiled.

* * *

"Well?" Lelouch asked, closing the door behind him. He moved over to his desk to flick through some Black Knight reports. "Have you made any progress?"

"I could ask you the same. You're not even trying." C.C. pointed out, stroking Jiro. "I know you have to protect your sister, but you can't just sit around."

"I have the Black Knights looking for Mao." Lelouch explained, clicking his pen impatiently. "A trainer who stole our raikou is a valid threat, especially one who seems like he can read minds."

"What'll you do if he's here in the Kanto region?" C.C. asked. "You'd just be wasting your time. You should just use me as bait." She suggested. "Mao's after me. I'll—"

"Tell me." Lelouch interrupted, turning away from her. "If I continue to use the Geass, will I end up like him?"

He noted C.C.'s gasp with a click of his pen and pressed his advantage. "Or did he end up like that because he couldn't fulfil his contract with you?"

"The Geass's power grows as it is used, much like a pokémon's power grows as it battles." C.C. explained. "And like pokémon, those who can't control it are swallowed by it."

"So knowing this…" Lelouch growled, turning to confront the witch as she cuddled her jirachi. "You still offered us your contract? Both me _and_ Mao?"

"That's right." C.C. nodded, looking into Lelouch's eyes.

"You're a bitch." Lelouch told her. "I can't understand why anyone would chase after you. Mao couldn't keep his contract so you cut him loose." C.C. pulled Jiro closer defensively as Lelouch probed her.

"Well? Am I wrong? What are the terms of this contract?" Lelouch demanded.

C.C. looked away from him.

"YOU'RE A MONSTER!!" he spat, unable to hide his rising anger any longer.

Her gaze snapped back to an enraged Lelouch. "Why didn't you kill him when you abandoned him!?" Lelouch shouted furiously. "You left him with his power and his life, and thanks to you, Shirley—"

Lelouch stopped himself, and settled for punching a shallow hole in the wall, his fist tearing through the plaster.

There was a tense silence between them, until the witch broke it with a cool voice.

"We should split up, to draw Mao off." C.C. suggested. "For tonight on, I'll stay in the building next door."

"Next door?" Lelouch asked, slumping down onto the couch and grabbing his head. "The Student Council and Literature Club are there."

"I don't care about that." C.C. announced, standing up and walking towards the door. "You take care of it."

Lelouch sighed as she opened the door. "Hold on." He told her, getting up and walking into the corridor. "Wait here for a bit. Nunnally!" He shouted. "I'm just popping out for a bit!"

"Huh?" his sister called back. "But you promised!"

"I just need to talk to Milly for a few minutes!" Lelouch told her. "I'll be right back!"

* * *

"So, yeah." Lelouch shrugged. "I'd appreciate it if you could make the club house off limits for a few days."

"Well, it's possible…" Milly admitted, before turning serious. "No-one found out you're a prince, did they?"

"That secret's safe." Lelouch lied. "Only the Ashford family knows I'm alive."

"Ashford, hey?" Milly sighed. She leaned against the wall of the clubhouse, looking somewhat dejected.

"Hm? What's happened?" he asked his old friend, curious and a bit worried.

"Lelouch, I've got another prospective suitor." She sighed. "I might not be able to wriggle out of this one…" Milly turned to him with an eager smile. "What should I do?"

"Well, I'm not sure…" Lelouch admitted, not too eager to get mixed up in her problems with suitors. No doubt she'd come up with a solution eventually, but he knew better than to get involved in her hilarious shenanigans. Still...

"CHAIRMAN!" Shirley shouted as the energy drained from Milly's face.

Aaaand there it was again. "Shirley?" Milly asked with concern and interest as she noticed Shirley's sports bag. "You're practicing again?"

"Yeah, no use moping." Shirley smiled as Lelouch looked away in shame.

Milly laughed. "I could learn a thing or two from your winning attitude." She complimented Shirley.

"What're you talking about?" Shirley protested. "You're way more— hey, you're that guy from the other day," she said, noticing Lelouch.

Lelouch forced himself to keep a neutral face and looked up at Shirley. "I didn't know you went to this school." She told him.

"What're you on?" Milly asked the ginger-haired girl with annoyance.

"We're in the same class, actually." Lelouch told Shirley, ignoring the student council president for now.

"No way!" Shirley declared, leaning forward to take a better look at his face. "Really?"

"That's enough…" Lelouch muttered as Shirley's friends from the diving club called her over.

"Coming!" Shirley waved, turning to Lelouch and Milly as she ran. "Well, whatever. See you later!"

"Yeah…" Milly managed, waiting for Shirley to get out of earshot before snapping to Lelouch. "What the hell was that?"

"We had a fight." Lelouch lied.

"So she's pretending that she doesn't know you?" Milly asked.

"Kind of." Lelouch sighed. "We decided not to drag anyone else into it and start completely fresh, as if we were strangers." Lelouch gave Milly a sad smile. "

I know it's stupid, but please could you convince the others to play along with it until she gets over it?"

"Another favour huh? Well, I don't mind." Milly sighed, shaking her head in exasperation. "Think it'll go on for long?"

"Yeah, probably." Lelouch answered truthfully.

That night, Lelouch fed Shirley's diary to his charizard.

* * *

_\_ "I'm sorry, Zero." _\_ Inoue reported. _\_ "We haven't been able to find this Mao." _\_

"I see." Lelouch nodded.

_\_ "Shall we contact our associates in Kyoto?" _\_

"No, he's definitely in the Kanto region." Lelouch sighed. "If you hear anything, tell me."

_\_ "I understand." _\_ Inoue nodded.

"Until next time then." Lelouch sighed, hanging up and walking up the darkened staircase. _'If I get within five hundred metres of him, Mao will be able to read my mind.'_ He thought. _'I at least know that much, but he wasn't able to predict me accurately when I was about to stab him… why..?'_

He snarled at the memory. "I can land a super-effective strike, but I just need one more—"

"PP?"

Lelouch turned to see C.C. in pants, jacket and a hat walking down the other staircase. "It seems that we're thinking along the same lines." She said.

"So it would seem." Lelouch nodded, turning to face her.

"Do you think we can work together?" she asked him.

"Yes." He nodded, picking up his ringing pokénav. "Hello?"

__\_ _"It's me, Lulu~!" _\_ Mao sang from the other end. _\_ "C.C.'s there too, isn't she~? I wanna talk to her alone, put her on." _\_

Lelouch put the pokénav on speaker. _\_ "_I said alone, you eavesdropper~!" __\_ He giggled.

"Anything you can say to C.C. you can say to me." Lelouch announced as Mao started laughing.

_\_ "_Trying to aggravate me by making me think that you and C.C. are a couple! Very good, oh very good~!" _\__ Mao giggled. _\_ "_But enough of the games."_ _\_

Lelouch undid the hands free on his pokénav and handed it to C.C. "Call me when you're finished." He told her.

C.C. was about to give a sardonic reply, but Lelouch interrupted her snarky comment by kissing her lips, before walking away without another word.

It was hard to tell who was the most shocked, her or Mao, but either way Lelouch deserved the smirk he walked away with.

* * *

"So, what's happening honeybunch?" Lelouch asked with a smirk once C.C. gave him a look, before tossing him his pokénav.

"Rejoice, Lelouch." She said with a catlike smile. "I've decided to go back to Mao, so you won't have to put up with me for much longer."

Lelouch glared. "Are you betraying me?" He asked.

"What're you talking about?" C.C. asked, walking past him and approaching the doors of the clubhouse. "We were never friends, just collaborators."

"WAIT!" Lelouch shouted, running down the stairs.

"You're just like Mao…" C.C. chuckled, turning to face him. "What a surprise."

"You know too much about me." Lelouch told her, Geass flaring up. "**I can't let you leave. Don't Go! Stay With Me, C.C.!**"

She took a step towards him and Lelouch smirked, Geass dying.

"The Geass doesn't work on me." C.C. told Lelouch. "Didn't I tell you?"

Lelouch blinked, surprised, before grunting in annoyance. "Don't worry." She told him. "I won't say anything about you to anyone."

C.C. began walking away. "You can keep the Geass too." She said. "And Mao won't bother you anymore. Now all your obstacles are gone. Congratulations." She told him as she opened the front door and left. "And goodbye."

"**SHITSU!!**" Lelouch screamed, getting down on his knees in desperation as the door closed.

Then he heard the laughing. _\_ "Looks like she loves me more, Lulu~!" _\_

"BASTARD!!" Lelouch shouted, grabbing a flowerpot and throwing it against the wall, hanging up just as it smashed.

Then he grinned.

Mao had just confirmed his suspicions- the mind-reader had heard the exchange between Lelouch and the witch- _not the thoughts running through the youth's head_.

He was only taunting Lelouch because he believed he had won. That could only mean one thing.

_Mao wasn't in range anymore._

Lelouch turned the pokénav around in his hand, so the camera was facing him. He imagined Mao standing before him, took a moment to visualize how the mind-reader spoke, how he had acted back at Narita and pictured what his next encounter with the man would play out as.

After fourteen seconds, he began recording a video of himself, standing before the green wall.

"So you were there." Lelouch smirked into the camera. "Somewhere stranger's voices wouldn't bother you."

He paused to give Mao chance to respond. "Your Geass only works within five hundred metres, so you can't read my mind here in the radio tower."

'_Honestly, that woman.'_ Lelouch smirked internally. _'She just comes and goes with the wind, never even considering that I was already working on a plan.'_

"Mao." Lelouch said, as if he was interrupting something. "You don't actually think that C.C. is her _real_ name, do you?" pause for Mao's gaspage. "I know her real name." he said with a smirk, picturing the bastard's shocked face with relish.

'_Now he'll ask C.C. why he doesn't know.'_ Lelouch calculated, counting silently. "She doesn't have to answer to you, weren't you paying attention earlier?" Lelouch snapped. "She is mine." He grinned. "C.C. is _mine_ Mao." He repeated, imagining the look on the psycho's face, the screaming of denial, the sheer panic. "I've made her mine, even what you've never seen. _All of her, Mao._"

"Understand?" Lelouch continued, twisting the knife. "I've experienced what you could only dream of having. Just think about that. Me and C.C. Over and over._All. Night. Long."_

"Mao." He grinned, picturing Mao smashing the screen with whatever. "You lose. In every sense of the word."

He recorded ten seconds of himself smirking for insurance, then he hit stop. "And cut." Lelouch grinned, opening the recording of the previous message.

_\_ "It's me, C.C." _\_ Mao said happily.

_\_ "Mao…" _\_ C.C. stated.

_\_ "I'll be waiting in Clovisland." _\_ Mao invited. _\_ "Come alone." _\_

_\_ "Insistent as usual." _\_ C.C. sighed.

_\_ "If you don't come, I'll just have to tell everyone who Lelouch is." _\_ Mao threatened. _\_ "And I can kill him whenever I like." _\_

Lelouch hung up, sighing. _'It's so easy to understand that warped woman's mind sometimes.'_ Lelouch grinned. _'Idiot.'_

* * *

Clovisland. If C.C. and Mao were headed there, then Lelouch had all the time in the world.

See, C.C.'s only pokémon was Jiro, and Jiro can't use Fly, nor teleport. Even if it could, a long-range teleport only takes you to a pre-ordained place, like a train station, or a pokémon station, or a secret base if you're good.

Either way, C.C. would either be walking, since she can't use the train without a citizenship pass, or hire a taxi without money.

That gave Lelouch time to go over some documents briefly with Diethard, contact a police chief with news of a depraved, drug-addicted rapist targeting a high-school girl in Clovisland, then Geass the swat team to do his bidding.

* * *

"LIAARR!!!" Mao screamed in rage as he hacked the screen to pieces with his axe.

_\_ "You lose -^- sense of -^- word." _\_ the onscreen Lelouch spluttered before dying.

"What're you talking about?" asked the maddened Mao. "It's fine! I'll be with C.C.! I win, you bastard! She's mine! FOREVER!""

Then he noticed the thoughts.

The many thoughts.

The many _angry_ thoughts.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!!" Shouted the SWAT team as they poured into the theme park, arcanine barking and hariyama's creating a barrier with their huge, fan-like hands. "GET DOWN TO THE GROUND YOU SICK BASTARD!!"

Then the spotlight came down from the fearow above him. "PUT THE AXE AND YOUR POKÉBALLS TO THE GROUND NOW!" The police shouted. "GET DOWN TO YOUR KNEES AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!!"

Mao was disgusted with what he was hearing from inside their heads. Him? A murderer? Kidnapper? Serial rapist? Drug addict? Pimping elementary schoolgirls?

Then he saw the face of the policeman who picked up the bullet-ridden C.C. "Lelouch?" She asked him. "What're you doing here?"

"N-NO!!" Mao screeched. "YOU WERE JUST AT THE RADIO TOWER!!"

Lelouch turned to his fellow Geass user with a grin. _'Are you stupid?'_ He thought loudly. _'That was a recording.' _

"THAT'S A LIE!!" Mao screamed. "YOU WERE JUST TALKING TO ME!!"

'_Your thoughts were incredibly simple.'_ Lelouch smirked. _'It was like getting a snorlax to use Rest:__: utterly predictable. You thought you could see my every move, but in the end__ your mind-reading was your undoing.'_

"You were able to predict my answers?" Mao gasped, unable to comprehend it. "DON'T SCREW WITH ME YOU LITTLE SHIT!! IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTER IF THE POLICE GET ME!! I'LL BE OUT IN A HEARTBEAT!!"

'_Oh?' _Lelouch asked in his mind. _'I don't think that the police take kindly to illegal immigrants who kidnap and pimp children for a shot of Refrain.'_ Lelouch grinned. _'Even without the Geass, I'm sure that they'd say that you resisted arrest anyway.'_

"SHUT UP!" Mao howled. "DON'T INSULT ME!!" _This guy's past the deep end… Who would care?.. People like him are why my daughter is never safe… Sick bastard… Screw taking him alive…_

'_C.C. told me about your Geass, how you can't turn it off, and it's dependent on your concentration._' Lelouch bragged internally.

"You used the monitor to distract me?" Mao managed, this revelation driving him slightly further around the bend. "I still have a way to beat you though!"

'_Using it would be your end.'_ Lelouch warned.

"HOW IS IT MY END!?" Mao laughed. "LISTEN UP YOU PIGS!! THAT GUY OVER THERE IS ZE—"

**DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA**

"Mao!" C.C. gasped as the park fell silent.

"He resisted arrest." The chief decided.

"Yes sir." The squad nodded. "Clearly about to kill the hostage if we didn't stop him."

"Hey, these are yours, right newbie?" one officer asked, handing Lelouch Mao's belt of pokéballs, raikou's fast ball among them..

"Thank you sir." Lelouch nodded, taking them gladly. "I'll take her to the hospital."

* * *

"When I contracted him, Mao was a six-year old orphan." C.C. explained as Lelouch removed the bullets from C.C. in his bathroom with a pair of tweezers. "He didn't know how to read or write, or of a parent's love, or even the difference between good or evil NGH!" She grunted in pain.

"Sorry." Lelouch apologised, dropping the metal ball into the tray.

"The power of Geass I gave Mao isolated him." C.C. continued, despite the pain. "I became his friend, his parent, his lover, and the perfect stranger, all at once." She sighed, a rare note of regret in her tone. "I was the only one who saw Mao as human. I was his whole world…"

"C.C.." Lelouch told her, washing the blood from his tools as her wounds began to close up. "I will not fall for the Geass. I will conquer this power and bend it to my will. I will change the whole world. I will grant both your wish and my own. I will fulfil the contract that he could not. So…"

"Lelouch." C.C. asked. "Are you trying to comfort me, pity me, or win me back?"

"All wrong." Lelouch decided without a moment of hesitation. "It's my offer. A contact between us, this time from me, to you"

C.C. looked at him, then smiled. "Very well." She told him with an outstretched hand. "I accept your contract."

Lelouch reached out for her hand, grasping it firmly just as his pokénav rang.

He grunted and looked at it. "No number." He asked, glancing at C.C. "This should be fun."

She smiled as he picked it up. "Yes?" He asked.

_\_ "Hello." _\_ the voice of an unfamiliar male announced. _\_ "My name is Silver Laguada. You killed my father. Prepare to die." _\_

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

NOW things get interesting. Seriously.

Also, the name Laguada has turned up already. Think about it if you can't place it.

And now, a word from my beta:

_"Ohmigosh guys you won't believe whats about to happen it's awesome!!!"_

Oi! Don't spoil it! _  
_


	13. Silver

Yaaay. New chapter time, and this one is almost all original scene.

also, **ANNOUNCEMENT: The update schedule for this story is every weekday, BUT! if a chapter gets enough reviews, I'll post a second chapter on that day too!**

**Also, I am a review whore apparently. And don't worry aboout me running out of buffer, I'll be writing R2 next week.  
**

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

The mystery caller hung up. "Do you know any Silver?" Lelouch asked C.C.

She shook her head. "Must be someone you know. Or knows you at any rate." She sighed, standing up from the bath and leaving the room. "Well, whatever. I'm off to sleep."

"Oi." Lelouch stood up and turned to face her. "Someone's threatening my life and you're going to sleep?"

"It's been a long day." C.C. yawned. "Whoever he was, if he was polite enough to call ahead, he'll probably let you sleep first. Night!" She waved, closing the bathroom door behind her.

Lelouch sighed, and opened a number on his speed dial. "Ohgi." He said. "My problem with Mao has been dealt with, but now someone claiming to be Giovanni's son is convinced that he owes me revenge."

_\_ "Another one?" _\_ Ohgi asked with a worried tone, before sounding surprised. _\_ "Wait, Giovanni had a son?" _\_

"That's what I need you to find out." Lelouch told him. "I will deal with things on my end, but I need you to verify this for me."

_\_ "I understand." Ohgi nodded. _\_ "There's also the matter of who we should send as the Chinese envoy next week." _\_

Lelouch grunted. _'I can't send anyone Japanese; the Chinese view politeness as weakness.'_ He thought. _'Who do I know that I can trust and is as rude as they come—'_

"I know just the person." Lelouch smirked, glancing at the door C.C. left through. "Just give me some time to talk her into it; she's rather unpredictable."

_\_ "I know how you feel…" _\_ Ohgi sighed.

'_Hm_' Lelouch thought, feeling curious. "Is there a lady in your life Ohgi?"

_\_ "No! Well, maybe…" _\_ Ohgi spluttered, sounding uncomfortable discussing the matter with his superior officer.

Lelouch smiled and sat on his bed. "Tell me about her." He asked, leaving the bathroom and walking to his bed. "I will if you will."

_\_ "Well, alright then Zero." _\_ Ohgi managed. _\_ "She's… I found her unconscious with a stab wound to the chest in the Olivine shoreline after the battle." _\_ he admitted, and Lelouch suddenly took severe interest. _\_ "She's a Britannian, so I was going to take her to the hospital, but then she mentioned something about knowing who you were." _\_

Lelouch glared. This was most definitely very not good.

_\_ "I took her home and treat her wounds, but she has no memories of anything before she woke up." _\_ Ohgi continued. _\_ "She can still walk and talk, and she's great for conversation, but…" _\_

Lelouch let out a relieved sigh. _'That's one problem out of the way then…'_ "Take care of her Ohgi." Lelouch ordered. "Don't let her get away, because it's clear that you care for this woman and you damn well deserve one."

_\_ "Y-yessir!" _\_ Ohgi stammered, excruciatingly embarrassed.

The leader of the Order of the Black Knights smiled to himself. "Goodnight, Ohgi." He told his second-in-command before hanging up and getting some well-earned sleep.

* * *

He woke up next to Kallen's smiling face.

"Morning sleepyhead." She giggled, stroking Lelouch's face and glanced down at her very revealing nightgown, before curling into a ball and kicking her in the stomach and out of his bed.

"Wh-what the hell!?" she choked, getting to her feet, clutching her stomach as Lelouch grabbed the hand gun from under his pillow and aimed it for her face.

"Who are you?" Lelouch demanded.

"I-it's me!" she shouted. "Who do you think!?"

"Kallen has a larger chest than that and would never, _ever_ call someone like me 'sleepyhead'." Lelouch stated.

The girl stared at him with a blank look on her fake face , then shrugged. "Ah well." She sighed. "No fun if they fall for it _all_ the time."

Lelouch clicked the gun for effect, and realised the problem. _It was too light._

"Yeah, I emptied it last night." The woman stated, tugging off a mask from her face which re-formed into a ditto which dissapeared into a pokéball that she shouldn't have been able to hide. "Still, you're surprisingly alert after seeing such a beautiful woman in bed with you in a morning." She said, pulling off a wig and shaking out her long brown hair. "Are you gay?"

Lelouch snarled, tossing the useless weapon aside. "Who are you?" He demanded. "**Answer My Questions.**"

"Sure." The woman nodded, completely under the Geass's control.

"**Who are you?**"

"My name's Blue Izayoi." She answered. "Evolver under the Mask of Ice."

'_Mask of Ice?'_ Lelouch asked. "**What is the Mask of Ice's objective?**"

"She is dead, so I don't think she has one." Blue shrugged.

'_Sarcasm while under the Geass?'_ Lelouch thought to himself. _'Should be possible, if one is cynical enough.' _"**Then who are you working for?**"

"Nobody."

"**Who are you working **_**with**_" Lelouch rephrased testily.

"Silver Laguada." Blue answered.

"**Why?**"

"The guy's practically my little brother, and you kinda killed his dad." Blue pointed out.

"**What makes you think that?**"

"We found traces of the bomb in the wreckage." Blue told him. "Then some psycho mind-reader guy called Mao stormed up to us and demanded to know where his droid was."

"**Droid?**" Lelouch asked.

"C-2 or something." Blue shrugged. "But Silver said that was the woman who dressed up as you, so we hired him to track you down and find out if you planted the bomb or if it was Britannia, and he agreed since we were going to fly him and the girl to Australia as a payoff. He confirmed it for us a couple of days ago, but wanted to get the girl from you before we moved in to take you out."

"**Who of your organisation knows of this or my identity?**" Lelouch asked.

"Just me and Silver for both." She admitted as C.C. crept into the room.

"**Do you intend to involve any innocents in your plan to kill me?**"

"Depends what you judge as 'involve', but as a blanket answer, yes."

"**What do you mean by involve?**" Lelouch asked, making sure to keep to asking questions.

"Nothing worse than tying a couple of people up in a few cupboards and replacing them, maybe some knocking out, minor kidnapping at worst." Blue shrugged. "I don't want to kill anyone."

"**Where is Silver now and what is he doing?**" Lelouch asked, sighing internally at the promise of his friends safety.

"Somewhere on campus watching us through that security camera in the corner." Blue pointed, and Lelouch turned reflexively, unconsciously breaking eye contact.

'_I put that there to scout for Mao…_' Lelouch thought, before spinning around to see Blue rubbing her forehead. _'Damn. Best make the most of this.'_

"Thank you for your cooperation." Lelouch told her. "You've been most helpful."

"Eh?" Blue asked as Lelouch grabbed her from behind. "Wait, what?"

She recovered from her surprise quickly and flipped over Lelouch before he could fully catch her. She kicked Lelouch in the back of the neck, sending him to the floor, and ran for the window. Vaulting out of it, she landed on her released blastoise, which flew her away on the streams of a hydro-pump.

Lelouch got back up, rubbing his neck. "It's not as bad as I anticipated." He told C.C. "But we've still got problems."

"What do you intend to do?" C.C. asked.

"Call student council, tell them what's going on, try to find any moles." He replied, before remembering himself and throwing a heavy book at the security camera, crushing it under the tome's mass.

"Nice shot." C.C. complimented.

"I've had practice." Lelouch replied offhand, reaching for his school uniform. "But my main problem is whether or not Mao told them about the Geass." He said. "They know about his mind-reading ability, and now Silver might be able to work out my power of Absolute Obedience."

"So are you going to kill him?" C.C. asked as Lelouch started pulling on his clothes.

Lelouch paused, thinking. "If I used my Geass to order someone to follow my orders, what do you think would happen?" He asked.

"I don't know, every Geass is different." C.C. reminded him.

"I know, I'm asking for your hypothesis." Lelouch asked, restarting his dressing. "I need to hear it from another person's perspective."

"Well, I would believe that they would view you as their commanding officer and do as you said, if I had to guess." C.C. shrugged. "But I doubt that it'd be absolute obedience."

"So they wouldn't become a mindless zombie entirely." Lelouch sighed in relief. That wasn't a fate he'd wish on anyone. No, not even his family…

"I didn't say that." C.C. warned. "I meant that they would be limited in the orders that they could carry out, and they would no longer go beyond the impossible to follow your orders."

Lelouch glanced at the witch. "Beyond the impossible?"

"Your Geass imposes a command that the subject does everything in their power to fulfill. If you ordered someone to shut up under the Geass, for example, they would probably never literally open their mouth again. If, however, you ordered them to do it after Geassing them for they're loyalty, they'd end up talking again afterwards- it wouldn't be absolute. That said, they still wouldn't be able to refuse an order from you, but their priorities would be on their loyalty to you rather than any additional orders you give."

"I see." Lelouch nodded. "Thank you, C.C." He told her, buttoning his shirt up.

"Eh?" C.C. asked, dropping her cool demeanour for a second.

"I don't want to be consumed by this power, and you've just told me something that will stop me from doing so." He smiled at her as he shrugged on a jacket. "I'm very grateful."

"Now stay in here." Lelouch ordered her as he left his bedroom. "That way, if you show up somewhere else, I won't have to hesitate killing you."

He slammed the door behind him, and C.C. sighed. "Honestly…" She managed, Jiro floating up to her, asking for a cuddle.

* * *

"Shirley. Suzaku. Nunnally. Milly. Kallen. Nina." Lelouch told everyone during the morning meeting. "Someone has infiltrated the academy and is after my life."

"WHAT!?"

"I have good reason to believe that they have no intention of harming anyone else!" Lelouch added hurriedly. "But I'm warning you because there were two assassins and one of them is a master of disguise with no qualms against kidnapping one of you and assuming your identity."

"What makes you so sure?" Milly asked, serious for once.

"Because I woke up to find Kallen in my bed, calling me sleepyhead." Lelouch told them. "As you can imagine, I figured it out after that"

"WHAT!?" Kallen shouted, standing up in outrage, her sickly mask slipping momentarily. "Why me!?"

"Luck of the draw probably." Lelouch lied. "What I do know is that the leader is a psychopath who is convinced that I am Zero."

That made Kallen realise the gravity of the situation. "That's awful!" Suzaku shouted, standing up himself. "I'll get the military-"

"No." Lelouch ordered. "So far, the only reason I wasn't killed in my sleep is because they want to play with me first. If we don't go along with their game, then it won't be long before they decide to finish up and leave."

Suzaku sat down angrily. "So what should we do?"

"The only thing we can do is try to find the leader." Lelouch said. "And stop the other one from leaving this room."

"Eeeh!?" Shirley gasped. "You think that the person after you is one of us?"

"I know so." Lelouch nodded. "Because Nina didn't flinch when I mentioned Zero."

"Eh?" Nina gasped, standing up as everyone turned to her. "B-what?"

"Nina..?" Shirley managed.

"Seriously?" Suzaku asked, spinning around.

"You…" Kallen snarled.

"Where's Nina!" Milly demanded.

"N-No!" Nina protested, backing off. "I-it's not me!"

"Why would you want to kill big brother?" Nunnally asked angrily. "What did he ever do to you?"

_Shing_

Everyone turned to see Lelouch pressing a blade to Nunnally's throat. "L-LELOUCH!!" Suzaku shouted.

"Nunnally would never get angry at someone like that." Lelouch growled. "_Never._ She can forgive anyone for anything. She can understand and sympathise with any pain, _especially_ the pain of losing a parent! _I_, however, _Am Not So Forgiving._"

He turned to Nina. "Sorry for using you like that Nina." Lelouch apologised, keeping the blade close to his sister's throat. "But I needed to test everyone's reactions."

"Um… okay…" Nina mumbled, still somewhat in shock.

Lelouch then turned back to his prisoner, grabbing the side of her face and pulling the ditto from it, tossing it aside. It hit the wall with a splat and immediately camouflaged itself into the colour of the wallpaper out of fear. "Where Is Nunnally?" Lelouch asked slowly and angrily, pressing the edge of the knife against Blue's throat.

**Click**

Lelouch looked down to see the handgun pressed against his wedding tackle. "Careful." Blue giggled. "I'm sure you'd like to use that someday."

"Holy…" Suzaku managed as Blue stood up, removing Nunnally's wig.

"For the record, she's fine." Blue told everyone. "Lulu, on the other hand-"

She was interrupted by the feel of cold gunmetal to the back of the head. "Where is she?" Suzaku demanded.

"Whoo… I've lost this one, haven't I?" Blue whistled. "Fine, she's in her bedroom, probably crawling on the floor looking for her chair."

"Bitch…" Lelouch snarled as Kallen slowly removed the gun from the girl's fingers, then noticed the drop of blood on her hand.

"Lelouch!" Kallen shouted. "You're slitting her throat!"

He glanced at Blue's neck, seeing blood run down his blade. "I didn't pierce the artery." He said, pulling the sword back and handing Kallen a handkerchief. "She'll be fine if she keeps this against the cut."

Kallen handed it to Blue who took it gratefully. "Get down to your knees and put your other hand on top of your head." Suzaku ordered, and she did so. "Does anyone have anything we can tie her up with or to?" he then asked.

"I have handcuffs!" Milly declared, pulling a pink, fluffy pair from her schoolbag. "Don't worry, they're solid!"

"She's probably an adept lock pick as well." Lelouch warned as Suzaku took the cuffs gingerly, neither questioning their original purpose or why Milly had them. "So someone should keep an eye on her in case while I get Nunnally and find her partner."

"I'll do it." Milly volunteered. "I wanna ask how she trained her ditto to do that!"

'_And I don't doubt that you wouldn't find a use for it.'_ Lelouch thought to himself, grabbing Nunnally's wheelchair, then thinking better of it.

"Kallen, I know that I should help my sister right now, but I need to find this man before he hurts anyone else." He told her, handing her the handles. "Please can you…"

"Sure." Kallen nodded, keeping up her fragile girl act while cottoning onto the fact that Lelouch couldn't let anyone know about C.C..

"Nina, Shirley, please help the council president look after this one, and Suzaku and I will find her partner." Lelouch decided. "Call us if she says anything. _And be careful!_"

"Okay." Shirley nodded and Nina made a nervous sound of some sort while everyone split into their groups.

* * *

After a few minutes of running around the school, Suzaku said something that made Lelouch stop dead.

"What makes you think that the girl is the only master of disguise of the two?"

Lelouch turned around slowly to see Suzaku aiming a gun at him. _'Damn.'_ Lelouch snarled internally. _'I really, really should have considered this.'_

He threw a pokéball. "CHARIZARD!" He shouted, summoning his dragon to breath fire at his friend. Suzaku, barely even flinching in surprise, jumped through the flames and pushed Lelouch to the ground.

"I NEVER SAID IT WAS ME!!" Suzaku shouted. "Calm down Lelouch!"

"Sorry…" Lelouch sighed, returning his dragon. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, it was a pretty low heat attack." Suzaku replied, wiping ash from his clothes. "Your charizard must've known it was me."

Lelouch laughed. "Smarter than me then." He joked. "Let's get going."

"Sure. Because there's no way you could find me on you own, huh?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

Lelouch and Suzaku twisted around to see a young boy, younger than both of them, standing in their school uniform. He had long red hair that went down to his shoulders, and a pair of mirrored sunglasses around his eyes. "You disgust me." He told Lelouch. "You're weak, and you hide behind others to keep up the façade of strength." He laughed bitterly. "What a jo-"

He was interrupted by a punch to the face from Lelouch. "Don't play mind games with me." Lelouch warned, kneeling atop the boy as the sunglasses bounced onto the floor. "Suzaku!" He shouted, pinning the red-haired boy to the floor. "Take his pokéballs!"

Lelouch was elbowed in the face by Silver, who pushed out from underneath him and stood up only to be decked by Suzaku's right hook. "I got him." The brown-haired boy reported.

Lelouch stood up, nursing his tender nose. "Shure?" He managed.

"Yeah, he's out cold." Suzaku nodded, kneeling down to grab the kid's pokéballs. "Sure this is the guy? He's just a kid."

"What's his team?" Lelouch asked.

"Er… feraligatr, weavile, crobat, gengar, alakazam, whoa!"

"What is it?"

"It's entei…" Suzaku gasped, offering the heavy ball to Lelouch to look at. He took it, and the pale underside became translucent under his gaze to show a miniature representation of the legendary fire beast.

"I heard Team Rocket had those…" Lelouch muttered. "This guy said that he was Giovanni's son, but I don't remember him from when we lived with the Laguada's…" Lelouch asked.

"Me neither." Suzaku replied, shaking his head. "But Giovanni did die recently."

Lelouch feigned surprise. "What!?"

The Japanese boy nodded. "Yeah, his ship got obliterated when someone did something to turn the dock into a mass of gyarados somehow…"

"But why would he think I was Zero…" Lelouch pondered, hoping Suzaku would provide an argument in his defence for him.

"I have no idea, but we need to put this guy under arrest." Was what Lelouch got instead, to his alarm.

"Wait, hold on!" Lelouch told his friend, grabbing his wrist as he reached for his pokégear. "If this guy has any evidence that suggests that I might be Zero, true or not, then they'll take me away for questioning too!"

Suzaku stopped dead. "They won't arrest you." Suzaku insisted. "You're innocent, so they won't arrest you."

He made the call.

* * *

He was, however, given the job of keeping an eye on the prisoner until the police arrived, giving Lelouch plenty of time to work out his plan with Silver.

The boy was still unconcious, so Lelouch pried open the eyelid to one of Silver's eyes and stared into it, Geass blazing.

"**You do not want to kill me.**" He said, planting an order. "**You only came here to analyse me psychologically and judge for yourself if the black knights were an organisation worth joining. From what you have seen you wish to join.**"

Silver's eye dialated and he groaned, beginning to rouse from unconciousness. "Hello, Silver," Lelouch said to the youth, grinning darkly. "Have I satisfied your expectations yet?"

"Zero…" the red-haired youth muttered, momentarily confused. He quickly recovered though, scowling. "Hmp… I suppose you aren't as weak as I first thought."

Lelouch's grin widened as his suspicions were confirmed. Silver's opinion of him had changed, but his mind was still his own- by acting while Silver was knocked out, Lelouch's Geass had placed the command _subconsciously._

Hearing some chattering from a group of approaching people, Lelouch grabbed Silver and pulled him into the maze of filing cabinets.

"In a few minutes, you will knock me out with this lead pipe, take my alakazam, and you'll take Blue and teleport out of here." Lelouch told Silver, holding the boy's mouth shut. "You'll then be taken into custody of the Black Knights, and then we can work something out."

Silver batted Lelouch's arm out of the way. "What're you talking about?"

"Because if the police arrest you, I'll get questioned under your claims of being Zero, and then I won't be able to live this double life anymore and there'll be no-one to look after my little sister." Lelouch told him. "Considering the contempt you had for Team Rocket and your relationship with Blue, I'm sure you can relate."

Silver glared, considering the offer, and then stood up. "Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"Because you'd make a decent addition to the team and I don't like to waste resources." Lelouch told him. "Now are you going to take my offer or what?"

Silver grabbed the pipe and swung.

Lelouch hit the floor, blood pouring from his skull.

* * *

He woke up in the nurses office with the student council sitting around him. "What happened?" Lelouch asked them, groaning as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

"He smacked you around the head and got away." Milly yawned. "Burst into the office, grabbed his girlfriend and pop! Gone."

"I'm sorry Lelouch." Suzaku apologised. "I shouldn't have left you alone with him…"

"It's fine, really." Lelouch laughed. "I actually talked with him before he escaped, and I think he figured out I wasn't who he was looking for."

"Thank goodness." Shirley sighed.

Lelouch looked around the hospital wing. "Where's Nunnally?"

"Here, big brother."

Lelouch turned his head around and saw his sister with Kallen. "Hey." He smiled at her, relieved to see her safe.

"How're you feeling?" Nunnally asked.

Lelouch laughed. "I'm fine, really."

"He only lost a couple of hundred IQ points." Milly joked.

"So I've still got a thousand left then." Lelouch nodded. "Yep, wit's still intact."

* * *

He ended up doing Milly's homework to prove that his brain hadn't fried, so it was dark by the time the nurse told them to leave him alone so he could rest.

He smiled to himself at his own brilliance as C.C. walked in. "Funny. Those two seemed very eager to throw their lot in with you." She said. "I thought you weren't going to Geass anyone to for eternal loyalty?"

"I didn't." Lelouch smiled. "I just altered Silver's memories so that he came here looking to see how Zero is as a person before joining the Black Knights. He still has his free will." He turned to her. "How did things go on your end?"

"Fine." C.C. shrugged. "They both start on Monday. Silver even hinted that he would help funnel Team Rocket's remaining assets into the Black Knights."

Lelouch nodded, wondering how best to go about this. "How would you like to spend a week in China discussing politics?" He asked her.

* * *

A week later, at the airport, Lelouch hung up his Pokénav, having taken Diethard's report, as a disguised C.C. walked past him, stopping a few feet away from him. "Are you sure I should be the envoy?" she asked him.

"The Chinese alliance tends to view grovelling with disdain." Lelouch explained.

"I'm nervous." C.C. sighed, bending over to check her case. "Unlike you, I have _some_ modesty in these diplomatic matters."

"Yes, that's exactly the attitude you'll need." Lelouch nodded. "Got your passport?"

"It's very well made." C.C. told him. "It should do just fine."

With that, they both walked their separate ways; C.C. to the terminal, and Lelouch to the entrance of the airport.

He didn't notice Mao watching him from above.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

You know, this chapter was almost all written on the fly. Hooray!


	14. Tranquility

You know, chapter 13, 14, and 15 were all written on the same day. If it wasn't for the wonders of buffers, minds would be blown.

Also, Pinoy, there are no OC's in this character except for the nameless, unimportant ones. Blue was the girl from FR/LG, and her character was taken from Blue in the Pokémon Special Manga. And of course that's who Grandmaster Red is.

Daughter of the Darkness Flame, that's exactly the fun.

And starting next week, I shall be writing R2. It shall blow minds.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Lelouch remembered the time when he and Suzaku carried his sister through a field of corpses during the Britannian invasion of Japan. It was a horrific chapter of their young lives, and he remembered the lies he had to tell his sister to stop her from knowing the truth.

How many lies would he have to tell her to make it through the death-ridden field he was creating now?

'_I will get through this._' Lelouch thought to himself in his bedroom that night. _'I will succeed…'_

He brushed the small bald patch on the side of his head. You couldn't notice it from looking because of his hair, but he felt the scar Silver gave him.

A small price to pay for removing Giovanni and gaining Blue and Silver. They had been more than earning their keep in the Black Knights, Silver rising through the ranks faster than Diethard had, and was rivalling Kallen in battle capabilities.

He was even nice enough to give Lelouch his alakazam back given the first opportunity, which meant that he could use it freely as Zero, since it had been reported as stolen.

His new snag arm had also arrived at one of the Black Knights bases, so Zero was almost ready to ride into battle with his knights after two weeks of absence.

It was all falling into place.

* * *

"Hey! Lelouch!"

Lelouch turned to see Suzaku running up to him the next day as they walked into the main school building. "Morning!" Suzaku shouted as he caught up with his friend. "Sorry it's been a while. You should come more you they're gonna hold you back." He joked, before turning serious. "How's your head?"

"Fine." Lelouch told him. "And you're one to talk about skiving school."

"It's my job to skip school." Suzaku countered. "The Order of the Black Knights has been particularly active lately, even if Zero hasn't shown up lately."

"I thought you were a breeder?" Lelouch asked him, keeping up the pretence of not knowing that Suzaku was on the front lines with Lancelot.

"Uh, they're short handed everywhere." Suzaku lied. Badly.

Lelouch groaned. "You should come over for dinner sometime." He invited. "Nunnally misses you… how about today?"

"Tonight would be great." Suzaku nodded. "But, are you sure? You need your rest after—"

Lelouch's pokénav was ringing. "Hold on a second." Lelouch interrupted. "Hello?"

_\_ "LELOUCH!!" _\_ screamed a panicked voice from the other end, making Lelouch have to hold his phone at arms length to stop himself from going deaf. _\_ "THE CHAIRMAN'S GOT ANOTHER MARRIAGE PROPOSAL!!" _\_

"Yeah, she's meeting him today." Lelouch managed, daring to bring the pokénav closer to his head to talk properly.

_\_ "TODAY!?" _\_ Rivalz screamed, making Lelouch thankful that he was hesitant in bringing it closer to his ear. _\_ "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!?" _\_

"Because you would've thrown a tantrum!" Lelouch shouted.

_\_ "I'LL THROW YOU!!" _\_ Rivalz screamed. _\_ "INTO THE MOON!" _\_

"I-it's okay!" Suzaku loudly comforted so Rivalz could hear. "I didn't know either—"

_\_ "DAMMIT SUZAKU, NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR EMO ADVICE!!" _\_

"E-Emo?" Suzaku gasped.

"He means that you have a tendency to act miserable and help people to cheer yourself up." Lelouch sighed, hanging up on the distraught amputee. "Anyways, dinner tonight?"

"Yeah- Wait, CLASS!" Suzaku shouted as Lelouch ran off.

"I KNOW!" Lelouch shouted. "I'm just going to tell Nunnally the good news! SHE'S GOT FIRST PERIOD FREE!!"

* * *

"Nunnally!" Suzaku shouted as he entered the living room. "I've got some good news! Suzaku's…"

He didn't find her. Instead, he found a picture of his sister surrounded by paper fearows.

A picture of his sister bound and gagged to a wooden chair.

Then his pokénav rang. It was Nunnally's number.

He answered it.

_\_ "Brother!" _\_

"Nunnally!" Lelouch shouted into the phone. "Where are you!?"

_\_ "I-I don't know! _\_ Nunnally whimpered. _\_ "He just told me not to move and—" _\_

_\_ "It's me, Lulu~!" _\_

Lelouch recognised that voice. _'It can't be…'_

_\_ "You let your guard down, Lelouch." _\_ Mao told him. _\_ "Did you really think I was dead?" _\_

"Mao, wait." Lelouch said, trying to defuse the situation. "C.C. isn't here."

_\_ "Why do you think I came now?" _\_ Mao giggled. _\_ "Someone unaffected by my Geass would just get in my way, so I've put that matter onto the backburner. I won't be able to rest until I've taken my revenge from you." _\_

"So you're within 500 metres of me." Lelouch said.

_\_ "That's right." _\_ Mao giggled. _\_ "Wanna look for me~?" _\_

"What are you playing at?" Lelouch demanded.

_\_ "Hide and Seek of course~! Your time limit is five hours." _\_ Mao chuckled. _\_ "This game is just between you and me, so it's all over if you use the police or those knights of yours. I don't want to get shot again. Oh yes," _\_ he added, almost as if he just remembered. _\_ "You're only able to use your pokémon within your own line of sight; it ruins the fun if you don't do all the work~!" _\_

"How the hell are you still alive?" Lelouch growled.

Mao laughed. _\_ "Man, didn't you know just how advanced the medicine in a war-like nation like Britannia is? I mean, you've been stabbed, pulverized into the ground and beaten over the head, but you're always right as rain after a day or two, am I wrong?"" _\_ Mao asked, cackling like a drunken witch. _\_ "Really Lulu, you should've ordered them to kill me, not shoot when you used your Geass~! Your sister's in quite the predicament, thanks to your weak follow-through. Yes, quite a crisis, a pickle indeed~!" _\_

"Well then." Lelouch growled. "Let me tell you what I will do. I will find you. I will save Nunnally. Then I will then tear your twisted head off myself. _That!_ Is what I will do. Now use your twisted mind-reading skills and piss yourself with the thought of me torturing you to death for involving my sister."

Mao clapped, laughing his head off. _\_ "Wonderful, wonderful~! Just remember to keep a cool head so you can get that far!" _\_

He hung up, and Lelouch started running.

* * *

Lelouch rammed the door into the student council room that lunchtime, panting, before collapsing onto his knees and vomiting.

"Lelouch!" Kallen shouted as Suzaku ran up to his friend, Nina getting up from her seat. "What happened!?"

"It-it's fine…" Lelouch panted, wiping his face and walking to the table, grabbing the two-litre bottle of fanta, opening it, an downing it all in one go and looking around the room. "I'll see you all later." He said distractedly, walking to the other door with dignity before sprinting once he was in the corridor.

He stopped when his pokénav was called by Nunnally's phone. _\_ "Lulu, if you keep wandering around aimlessly like that, I'll extend the time limit by an hour~!" _\_

He hung up. _'Damn… he can tell how flustered I am…'_ He took out Mao's picture of Nunnally. _'Come on you idiot, think! If he's within five hundred metres so can hear my thoughts, then he's on the school site, so…'_

"Lelouch?" Suzaku asked, coming from the council room.

He tried to hide the photo in his pocket, but his fingers were shaking from running too hard and he dropped the photograph instead. Suzaku snapped it up before Lelouch could retrieve it, and stared at it in shock. "So something_ did_ happen to Nunnally…" Suzaku growled after he recollected his thoughts. "Who took her? Was it a Britannian agent?"

"No, it has nothing to do with our lineage." Lelouch told him, picking up the photo from his friend's hands and pocketing it. "He's just a kid who wants a woman to himself."

"Was it that kid from before?" Suzaku asked.

"No, but this guy found me for that guy." Lelouch explained. "Now he's back for revenge. He's done his homework, so we can't tell the army or the police."

"So I can't get Lancelot, because he's at the lab being fed today…" Suzaku sighed. "Nothing for it, we'll have to make do ourselves. But tell me first." He asked. "Is this because of some gambling debt?"

"No." Lelouch snapped.

"Alright." Suzaku nodded. "What do we know?"

"Just the picture and that he's on campus somewhere." Lelouch explained, before realising something. "Wait; there was the sound of rushing water, like a waterfall." he muttered.

"A waterfall… Ah! The sewage system!" Suzaku realised. "I used that to teach my kingdra waterfall!"

'_He's underground.'_ Lelouch realised. "To the lift, NOW!"

"But that's odd." Suzaku pointed out as they sprinted for the lifts. "Normally you'd have figured that out ages ago."

"I'm a little stressed." Lelouch panted, putting his card key into the slot, only for it to be rejected. "Damn."

"What's wrong?" Suzaku asked.

"Bastard's changed the code." Lelouch explained, getting onto his knees. "I'll have to break the locking system."

"You can do that?" Suzaku asked as Lelouch sent his lucario out.

"Rock Smash." Lelouch ordered.

SMASH

"I do it all the time." He told his friend, prying the lift door open with the help of his lucario and donning some leather gloves from his pocket. Grabbing one of the cords, he recalled his pokémon and judged the distance down the dark elevator shaft with a critical eye. "I'll fix the door later. Let's go!"

"You've done this to sneak out before, haven't you?" Suzaku asked, wrapping some cloth around his wrists and grabbing the other side of the wires.

"Yeah." Lelouch nodded, getting ready to slide down. "Once in a while."

* * *

The lifts were at the bottom of the shaft, so they slid through the emergency escape and hit the Doors Open button, each one taking refuge behind one side of the door. "How's it look?" Lelouch asked as Suzaku's mime jr made a reflective barrier to act as a mirror.

"Not good." Suzaku answered. "He's got five ninjask guarding the area, and they're moving insanely fast."

'_How the hell did he get that many in such a short time? __They must be wild…__'_ Lelouch snarled to himself, before reaching for his charizard.

"No." Suzaku stopped him. "They're aimed at the door. The second you send it out, it'll get torn to pieces."

"Then we can't get out of here." Lelouch snarled as Suzaku returned his pokémon. "We'll have to disable them somehow and HEY!!"

Suzaku charged into the corridor, running in an erratic zigzag pattern and kicking one of the insects with a flying spinning kick. Lelouch ran forward and sent out his charizard, dowsing the corridor with flames as the other ninjask charged for Suzaku. "YOU RECKLESS IDIOT!!" Lelouch shouted as the flames died, insects twitching in its wake.

Suzaku patted some flames from his singed jacket's shoulder. "Let's go." He said, otherwise fine. "Nunnally's waiting."

* * *

"NUNNALLY!" The two boys shouted, charging along the metal path to Nunnally, who was tied to a chair under an enormous Electrode dangling from the ceiling from a large metal cord.

"Brother?" Nunnally asked. "And Suzaku!?"

"HOLD ON!" Lelouch shouted, before getting pulled back by Suzaku.

"Just look at that first." Suzaku warned, pointing at the Electrode. Its eyes were angry spirals. "It's taken a berserk gene; it could go off at any second."

_\_ "That's right, Lulu~!" _\_ Mao jeered on the pokénav's hands free. _\_ "I'll allow Kurugi, since he came here of his own accord, but you best get to work~!" _\_

'_DAMN!!'_ Lelouch thought desperately as Mao hung up as quickly as he called. _'And the new snag arm's getting delivered tonight…'_

"Don't worry Nunnally." Suzaku told her. "We'll deal with the Electrode. It'll be alright, there's nothing Lelouch and I can't do when we work together."

"Y-yeah." Nunnally smiled.

Meanwhile, Lelouch did what he did best, and began to think. "If we touch that, it'll use explosion." Lelouch told Suzaku. "If we send out a pokémon, it'll think it's in a battle and use explosion. Berserk Gene's are evil."

Suzaku nodded in agreement. "I know. They were developed from mewtwo's developing cells a few years ago." Suzaku explained. "I thought we'd gotten rid of all of them, but if we get too close, like to get to Nunnally, it'll assume we're going to attack and blow itself up anyway."

"An electrode of that size…" Lelouch pondered. "Electrodes don't normally get that big. How huge would that thing's explosion be?"

"Five hundred and fifty-six metres and a half." Suzaku explained.

"Eh?" Lelouch asked. "Why so specific?"

"We breed pokémon, so I know." Suzaku insisted. "So the guy is outside this range."

'_So Mao can't use his Geass on me right now, so he's probably got a camera in here…'_ Lelouch thought, scanning the room for it. _'He's tempting me, and wants to watch me agonise this decision.'_

"Can you think of a way to stop it?" Suzaku asked.

"In theory." Lelouch replied. "If we can make it faint without making it panic any further, so without any pokémon or sudden movements and in one hit, then it will return to normal." Lelouch laughed bitterly. "But that'd be impossible."

"I can do it."

"What!? What could you possibly-" Lelouch was cut off by the determined look on the brown-haired youth's face.

"Listen to me." Suzaku told his friend. "You can use this information to find this guy. I'm a soldier. You do your job and I'll do mine. _Trust. Me._"

Lelouch did.

* * *

'_Mao should be watching from somewhere he can observe Nunnally in private, and he's gone back to the school.'_ Lelouch plotted to himself. _'Crazy fool. I told Suzaku not to move, but I really have no options. If I kill him, then the effects of the pokéball should disappear and the electrode should become wild and become free from the Berserk Gene.'_

He kicked the door open to the chapel at the top of the campus, and there the bastard was waiting for him. "Welcome, my thieving friend~!" Mao applauded, sending out a garchomp and a ludicolo. "No weapons, no plan, and the bomb is still in place~!" he laughed. "You're not using any outside resources, even that friend of yours~! What's the matter, Lulu?"

"There is no need to replay this conversation." Lelouch snarled, sending out a metagross and a charizard.

Charizard rushed for the ludicolo with an Aerial Ace, but was immediately leeched by a tangle of parasitic seeds. While the dragon was distracted by the spreading net of sproutlings, it began to rain inside the chapel. "Let's settle this the way you love best then." Mao laughed as the mad duck used Toxic on the fire dragon. Charizard stumbled, pale and sickened from the toxin.

"The rainseeder strategy." Lelouch snarled as ludicolo began to use giga drain. "No wonder C.C. left you; you're boring and unimaginative, no fun at all."

"I won't rise to your provocation." Mao sneered as his garchomp launched a Dark Pulse at metagross, causing it to crash into the wooden floor while charizard howled in pain as ludicolo drained more health from it.

Lelouch glared. "Ninjask!" He shouted, tossing a fast ball into the air. "RAGE!"

"Oh? Was that one of the wild ones I put downstairs~?" Mao sang while clapping. "You're not the kind of person who can empty his mind." He taunted as metagross was sent reeling into the wall by another dark pulse and charizard continued being tortured by the dancing duck. "You criticise all your strategies carefully, and you criticise all those criticisms, and so on. That's the kind of man you are. As feral as pokémon training may have taught you to act, you can't change your nature."

Mao laughed. "No matter how much you try to think, my victory is assured."

"ZARD!!" Charizard roared as it fainted, and Lelouch returned it, sending out a sandslash, lucario and his alakazam.

"Impressive!" Mao applauded. "You sent out three pokémon and are thinking of three strategies for each one to try and confuse me!" he giggled. "But if I focus my Geass on you alone, then I can shift the truth from the subterfuge."

The garchomp smashed its forearms down into the ground, crushing the digging sandslash and ludicolo danced around lucario's bullet-like punch, seeding alakazam and intoxicating it, repeating the strategy from before. "Aaah, your last plan failed miserably~!" Mao sighed. "Your sister is in mortal peril because you underestimated me~!" he applauded as his garchomp snapped up alakazam in its powerful jaws, crunching the psychic pokémon's bones.

"What shall I do?" Mao asked, doing an impression of Lelouch as both of his pokémon ganged up on lucario, batting it between themselves as if they were playing catch, before garchomp got bored and belched a ball of flame, blasting Lelouch's pokémon across the room. "I'm out of plans! My sister's gonna die because I couldn't beat this man!" He grinned, clapping as he dropped the façade. "What're you gonna do?" He asked. "You're all out of pokémon! You've run out of hope! You don't even have a back-up plan! Are you going to beg?"

Then Lelouch's mind turned blank; only one thing running through it.

"NINJASK!" He shouted. "BATON PASS!"

* * *

Earlier, Lelouch sat down infront of a mirror, somewhere out of Mao's range. "**Forget that Suzaku is going to save Nunnally and ignore the knife hidden in your belt .**" Lelouch ordered his reflection. "**Send out a ninjask as the third pokémon in a double battle against Mao, have it use Rage, then forget about it completely until all of your other pokémon have fainted. Then, when all hope seems lost, remember the ninjask and the knife and order the ninjask to use baton pass.**"

See, the ninjask was pre-prepared to use only swords dance and double team over and over again while staying out of sight. Since Mao was spending so much concentration reading Lelouch's mind, he would forget about this pokémon just as quickly as Lelouch would.

It didn't matter that the ninjask wasn't taking damage to increase its attack thanks to Rage; swords dance was doing that more than enough. With its Speed Boost ability, its speed rose by the second, and with double team, so did its evasion.

When it used Baton Pass, there were no other pokémon on Lelouch's team to switch to, so it did the next best thing.

It passed those massive stat boosts onto Lelouch just as he remembered the weapon he was hiding.

And then the Rage took over.

* * *

"RRAARRRGHH!!" Lelouch roared, pulling out the blade and charging for Mao.

He stabbed deep into the ludicolo's eye, vaulting over its corpse and kicking the garchomp's face with an aerial kick that could rival Suzaku's. He swung a knife into the garchomp's arm, stabbing it and then charging again for Mao, who yelped and drew a pistol, pointing it at Lelouch.

Unfortunately, guns only beat knives when used at a minimum of eleven feet from the target.

Lelouch was five feet away from Mao.

Lelouch leant to the side, dodging the bullet as it passed by his arm harmlessly, and rammed the blade into the madman's chest. Mao screamed as the knife sunk between his ribs, and Lelouch bit into his shoulder to prevent him from running away.

The next shot hit Lelouch's chest, breaking a rib, and Mao stumbled away, but Lelouch was far too past sanity to care about trivial things such as bullet wounds.

There was only one thing on his mind.

_**KILL**_

Mao screamed, firing his bullets blindly as Lelouch slowly walked towards him, only stopping when one bullet hit Mao's shoulder on the ricochet.

One bullet hit Mao's shoulder on the ricochet, so he tossed the gun aside with a yelp and sent out his xatu. "T-TELEPORT!!" He screamed, as Lelouch grabbed his throat. Joining the teleportation, they were both taken to a roadside outside the school.

This had the unexpected consequence of ridding Lelouch of all his stat boosts and his Rage, and he fell to the ground, grunting from the shock of feeling the pain of his bullet wound.

"Haha?" Mao laughed madly, sensing the tides had turned. "Haha! HAHA!! I WIN!!" He shouted, tugging the knife from his chest and stabbing it into Lelouch's shoulder. "SEE THAT!" He cackled as the boy screamed. "I WIN!!" Mao shouted as he kicked Lelouch in the ribs. "SEE THAT C.C.!? _**I! WIN!!"**_

Then he heard another voice in his head.

A loud one. Getting louder.

And closer.

_Fast._

'_I'MA COMIN ATCHA LIKE A HORNY ONIX INNA HEAAAATT!!!'_

It was the last thing that went through Mao's mind.

The last thing that went through Mao's head was a titanium bicep moving at a hundred-and-fifty miles per hour.

* * *

"Hey, you okay?" a familiar voice asked Lelouch.

He groaned and sat up , realising he was in his hospital bed again. "Man, you've been busy while I've been gone." Said the familiar voice. Lelouch turned to the speaker and found a man with short, almost shaven blue hair and a mass of dark stubble around his grinning jaw.

"R-Rivalz..?" Lelouch asked in disbelief.

"What, it's been three weeks and you've already forgotten this handsome face?" Rivalz laughed. "Mind you, this beard of mine does make me look kinda rugged, whatcha think?"

"I think it makes you look like a prat." Lelouch sighed, looking over his bandaged torso. "Britannian medicine, sure is amazing, huh?"

"Yeah, the police just want to talk to you about the guy stabbing you in the middle of the road and you can go." Rivalz grinned.

"MAO!" Lelouch shouted, sitting bolt upright. "Where is he!?"

"Easy, easy!" Rivalz said, trying to calm his friend down. "He's not gonna bother you any more, I can promise you that."

"I thought that too, but he survived sixty bullet wounds before," Lelouch pointed out.

"Well, I don't think doctors can heal decapitation just yet." Rivalz said with an awkward grin.

Then the memories started flooding in. "I'm remembering this correctly, right?" Lelouch said slowly, giving Rivalz a strange look. "You tore his head off at the jaw as you sped past us on your motorbike?"

"I- I was only trying to clothesline him, I swear! I just sort of forgot this arm is made of titanium now, that's all!" Rivalz shouted defensively. "It was a much safer idea in retrospect, but I am_ So _glad I did it on that guy instead of you!"

Lelouch paled from the mental image. "You're not the only one." He managed.

"Hey, just so you know, Kallen returned all of your pokémon and caught a wild garchomp for you while she was at it." Rivalz said. "And Suzaku managed to take out that electrode and save Nunnally, he just called to ask about you."

Lelouch laughed. "Thanks Rivalz." He told him. "I'll fill you in on everything later, but for now that garchomp is yours. It's the least I owe you."

"Sweet!" Rivalz grinned. "Man, just one more badass scar and Milly is all mine!" He declared.

"That's what this whole new look was about?" Lelouch asked with bemusement.

"Hey, I got claws and everything!" Rivalz bragged, bringing a fist to his face. "Check it out-OW!"

"You alright!?" Lelouch asked, leaning forward to check his friend's injury.

"Yeah, just nicked my chin…" the blue haired boy grunted, bringing the two three-foot blades protruding from his arm away from his face. "Best keep these inside for now, huh?"

Lelouch laughed. "Alright." He sighed. "Now where are these coppers?"

* * *

Lelouch got home around nine O'clock that night, and after several painful hugs from Suzaku and Nunnally, they had a dinner together.

They deserved it; after all they had been through that day.

Of course, it was the only rest that Lelouch would get for some time, because soon, Zero would return to the front lines of his war.

The world was a stage.

The audience was calling for their leading man.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Pokémon is for kiddies! YAY!

Yeah, I love how I brought Rivalz back. Best dynamic entry ever.


	15. Knight

You know, I don't think anything particularly important will happen in this chapter. I mean, it's pretty short, right? And Shinji and Warhammer 40k updated recently too.

Also, Shrill-tastic just completed his homage to my story, Fairly English Story. That's right, My fanfictions are so good that they get their own fanfictions.

But yeah. Short chapter today, and throughout the rest of the week, but NEXT week you have two double chapters _in a row_ followed by R2!!

Also, Varanus is taking his exams this week, and we have just enough beta'd buffer to last until friday, since he's been studying, so no double posts this week. Wish him luck, regardless!

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_Lelouch, a Britannian boy, must choose between two paths. On one hand, it the path of the past, which would lead to avenging the death of his mother. The other is the path of the future, which would lead to the creation of a world where his sister, Nunnally, may live in peace._

_Lelouch stands between the fork between the past and the future, and only he can decide whether he shall choose the path that destroys the world, or the one that creates it anew._

* * *

'_My wounds have healed, I've gotten my pokémon back, my equipment is repaired, C.C. has returned from China, and Rivalz is ready to join the Black Knights.'_ Lelouch pondered to himself. _'I honestly cannot delay this any longer. Zero has to go out again soon…'_

"Hey, don't move your face Lulu!" Rivalz complained. "It's hard enough writing with a robo-arm as it is…"

"Eh?" Lelouch asked, shifting slightly in his stool. "O-oh, sorry." He was currently acting as a model for the art class, and Rivalz was going to milk all his newfound female attention for all it was worth.

Lelouch got back into the previous position. "No, no, it was more hunched over." Rivalz complained.

Lelouch moved. "Like this?" He asked.

"Nah, that's too much." Rivalz groaned. "A little higher."

"Like this?"

"Dammit Lulu…" Rivalz growled, standing up from his easel and walking up to the model himself. "Your expression's completely different from before!" he reached out his human left hand and began moving his skin. "A little of this, lift this up, this bit down, this over here… perfect!"

Lelouch was now wearing a perfect Charming Smile.

Rivalz popularity plummeted back to zero. "It's completely different now!" Was the general consensus. "I liked the scowl better!" was the minority vote.

"Why! He looks hilarious now!" Rivalz complained as Nina walked into the classroom and asked what Shirley was doing in that class since she had mathematics that period.

"I skipped it, since it's Prince Clovis's Art Appreciation Week." Shirley explained.

Then Lelouch's pokénav rang. "Sorry!" He apologised. "Just give me a sec…" _Ohgi._

"Sorry, I gotta go." Lelouch apologised, ditching the class that second and running out of there before anyone could stop him.

* * *

"So, the four Heavenly Blades require our help in rescuing Toudou?" Lelouch asked him, summarizing the conversation. "Tell them we accept."

_\_ "You sure?" _\_ Ohgi asked.

"The Black Knights are allies of justice." Lelouch reminded him. "Of course we'll help. Use distribution pattern B-13, have Silver lead a distributed contingent of trainers from position 18. Make sure everyone knows what to do."

Lelouch then hung up as C.C. walked up to him in a school uniform and pigtails. "Today's the day I capture two invaluable allies." Lelouch told, her, glancing out the window to see Suzaku washing something in the outside taps below. "Three, if all goes well."

* * *

That afternoon, Lelouch was pondering how to get Suzaku to join the Black Knights while on the field of battle as he lounged on his porch, talking with his friend and Nunnally. He supposed that, had he not been aware of Suzaku's role in the army like he was supposed to be, then he would try to convince Suzaku to stay and protect Nunnally from any more psycho's like Mao.

That role had to be pushed back, however. Suzaku's Lancelot has something strange about it, and it seems to like both Suzaku and Lelouch, so he may be able to switch sides, if the pokémon even saw them on different sides at all.

"Suzaku!"

Lelouch and Suzaku both turned to see a woman with short blue hair run up to the villa in a brown military uniform. "Lloyd says to come quick!" She panted, running up the steps.

"Who's that?" Lelouch asked as Suzaku stood up from his chair.

"She's from the army." Suzaku explained in a whisper.

"Are these your friends?" Cecile asked, glancing at Lelouch and Nunally.

Suzaku glanced at Lelouch with a smile, before answering "Yes!"

She smiled. "I'm sorry, but I'll be borrowing Suzaku for a while." She told Lelouch and Nunnally.

"But—"

"It's fine Suzaku." Lelouch interrupted. "I told you, that psychopath won't be coming back without the rest of his head."

"Brother!" Nunnally shouted, sounding horrified.

Lelouch cringed. "I'm sorry Nunnally." He apologised, then turned to Suzaku with a sheepish grin. "But seriously. Go."

"Alright." Suzaku sighed, stepping out from under the porch. "See you!"

"See you later Suzaku!" Nunnally waved as he left with the woman from the army. "It's nice that he's so active."

* * *

"Oy, be careful with her!" an Indian woman shouted as Tamaki rammed bird feed down ho-oh's throat. "Honestly, I was a hundred more delicate when I was raising her."

"Who the hell do you think you are, lady!?" Tamaki shouted.

"Her mother." She replied haughtily.

"_So you raised ho-oh."_

The woman turned to the approaching cloaked figure and tapped some ash from her pipe. "So you're Zero?" she asked. "It's nice to meet you- your reputation precedes you."

"_As does yours, Rakshad."_ Zero complimented, offering her his hand to shake. "_I've been reading about your work into medical cybernetics."_

She laughed shallowly. "I don't like to dig up the past." She stated.

"_I was actually considering asking you looking at one of our newer recruits."_ Zero asked her "_He has an auto-mail arm, and wishes for a more… combat appropriate model."_

"Hmm?" Rakshad asked, glancing over at Rivalz, who waved. "This young man with the claws?"

"_I am confident that, if you were sufficiently motivated, that you could create something… fun, for Rivalz?"_

Rakshad tapped her pipe to her cheek as she pondered her options for a moment. "How does nuclear decomposition blasted from the palm sound?"

"I have no idea what that means, but it sounds cool." Rivalz piped in, knowing they were talking about him.

Lelouch grabbed his face. "_If I had the arm Rakshad was suggesting, you would now be all over the walls."_

"Nice!" Rivalz declared, turning to Rakshad and putting his hands together and bowing to her. "Pleasepleasepleasepleasee—"

"_You can all discuss it later."_ Zero announced as the four heavenly blades walked up to him in their new uniforms. "_As for now, here are your pokémon: regirock, regice, registeel, and suicune."_

"You're just giving them back?" the old man of the group asked with surprise.

"_I shall ride Toudou's pokémon for him."_ Lelouch announced, fingering the heavy ball in his hands. "_We attack at sunset."_

* * *

Once the attack began, Lelouch made his way to the roof, letting the Black Knights cause as much chaos and confusion as possible while he crept into the prison corridors.

He knew when he found the right cell, because there was a Britannian soldier about to shoot the man inside. "Kururugi couldn't make it, I'll be your executioner instead." The soldier said, leveling his rifle. "Any last words?"

"I have already given up my life." Toudou explained. "I do not grieve for it."

"_Well then, I shall take it off your hands!"_

"WHAT!?" The guard reeled around as the wall of the prison crumbled, revealing Zero standing atop a behemoth of a pokémon. Regigigas tore through the rest of the wall, obliterating it and the puny soldier in one blow before wrenching open the door to Toudou's cell.

"Zero." Toudou noted as the masked man entered the cell.

"_Toudou Kyoshiro._" Zero sneered. "_The man who managed to stand victorious against the Britannian forces in the war seven years ago."_

"You mean the miracle in Sootopolis?" Toudou asked, before turning to calm anger, understanding Zero's intent. "Do you want a miracle from me as well?"

"_That was no miracle._" Lelouch told the man. "_It was nothing more than good information gathering __and wise decision making__. Victory through strategy. That is why I want you."_

"Enough." Toudou groaned. "Giovanni Laguada, who I pledged my allegiance to, has died, and so have I."

"STOP SCREWING AROUND!"

Toudou's head snapped up to see Silver Laguada ride in on his entei. "You gotta accept responsibility for that miracle of yours old man." The red-haired boy told him, a snarl twisting his face.

"_Area 11's resistance is so strong because Japan surrendered with the bulk of its strength intact."_ Zero explained. "_Without ever seeing the completion of the dream promised by the miracle in Sootopolis." _

"Then it was all my fault?" Toudou asked.

"Just Look!" Silver snarled, grabbing Toudou by the neck of his prisoner's robes and forcing his head out of the hole in the wall, making him see the battle below. "The idiots in this country are living in a dream promised by some so-called 'miracle'. That's why they love Refrain so much, get it?" He asked. "But that's also why they fight so damn hard for you, to keep that dream alive."

"_Fight on, Toudou."_ Lelouch ordered a shocked Toudou. "_Keep on splashing until the bitter end, and die from the recoil of your own struggles. Fight until the name of Miraculous Toudou is utterly broken and soiled."_

"And only then will the Japanese be able to accept their defeat?" the warrior asked him, looking down at the carnage.

"_It is necessary, for the people."_ Zero agreed. "_Unless, of course, I make that dream of theirs a reality."_

Toudou grinned. "Untie my bonds."

Silver slipped out a knife and cut the straps tying Toudou's arms behind his back. "EVERYONE!" He announced. "WE ARE FOLLOWING ZERO!!" He shouted. "ZENGETSU! COME!!"

His regigigas hurled him onto its shoulder and leapt from the tower, crashing into the concrete below and charging into battle.

"You sure do have a way with words, don't you?" Silver asked.

"_You're not so bad yourself, Silver."_ Zero told him, sending out his raikou. "_But for now, we have a battle to win." _Silver nodded in agreement, and his entei rushed out of the prison, bringing them back to the battle.

'_Right now, the only thing left is… speak of the devil, here he comes.'_ Lelouch thought, seeing Suzaku charge in his white armour, floating at speed alongside Lancelot the mewtwo.

_\_ "Zero, what is that thing?" _\_

"_It's the strongest pokémon that I know of, but I've worked out a way to beat it."_ Lelouch explained. "_Q-1, alternate between Gurren and ho-oh to deal damage while constantly moving; switch if it gets chance to use a super-effective move. Tyranitar and steel types are also good counters, but our only option right now is to surround it and over power it, and whatever you do, don't let it use a super-effective move on your pokémon, because this thing can two-hit-kill an entire army if you're not careful."_

"_The first attack will come from the front." _Zero instructed as Gurren dodged the aura-sphere. "_If it misses, it will keep moving to avoid you from hitting it in the back. Watch its movements._" Lelouch grinned as Suzaku did exactly as he was supposed to. "_S57!"_

A regice burst from around the corner, ramming mewtwo back. "_That's it."_ Zero nodded. "_Now he'll be forced to move back and regain some distance. Now he's on X23."_ Lelouch smiled as Lancelot was struck by regirock's Super Power.

Mewtwo was knocked back from Suzaku as Lelouch guided the remaining two blades, on their registeel and their suicune, to beat down Lancelot and knock it out.

'_So it is beatable…_' Lelouch smiled to himself as his raikou flashed down to the ground where Suzaku was slumped, white helmet broken off.

"SUZAKU!?" A running, helmeted Rivalz shouted in disbelief.

"_Well, my white knight. __Separated from your Lancelot and surrounded by opponents. You are certainly in dire straights right now."_Zero sneered, offering Suzaku a hand up. "_That said, you needn't worry. In fact, __I would like to re-iterate my offer and invite you to join my ranks."_

Suzaku grabbed Zero by the wrist and roared as flames erupted around them. "_Wh-what?!"_

"Dragon…" Suzaku grunted, ramming into Zero. "RUSH!!"

The force from Suzaku's attack launched both him and Zero into across the field. They hit the ground hard, and Zero felt at least a few of his ribs fracture from the impact. Raikou quickly rushed to his aid and plucked him from the ground, standing over the masked man protectively as Zero stared in disbelief and confusion at the soldier, who was doused in black flames. "COME ON!!" Suzaku roared, fire burning from both wrists, waving at Zero to come get him.

A wall of crimson fire rose up between them as entei rushed with it's trainer to Zero's aid. "We got company." Silver pointed out, trying not to look worried.

Lelouch looked to the sky to see a horde of flying dragons approaching the prison. _'A perfect excuse to retreat then.'_ Lelouch grinned from behind his mask. "_ALL UNITS RETREAT! WE HAVE COMPLETED OUR TACTICAL OBJECTIVE SO LET'S GO!!"_

_\_ "I see you know the difference between an unwinnable battle and a battle lost, Zero." _\_ Toudou chuckled over the radio as he returned his pokémon and ran over to the nearest teleporter.

* * *

Zero stripped down from the waist up for his ribs to be treated, even though he kept his mask on while they did so. "Man, that kid sure did a number on you, didn't he?"

"_I didn't expect a human to use a pokémon attack."_ Zero admitted. "_We're going to have to find out why the hell that can happen. Rakshad, do you know anything?"_

"Only that it could only be the work of _that man."_ The Indian woman groaned. "The Earl of pudding. He worked with me for a time, then went onto the Mewtwo project. If anyone is stupid enough to try and teach a human a pokémon attack, it would be him."

Somehow, Lelouch wasn't convinced.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

I would apologise for the short chapter, but I think that the twist was worth it.

**Varanus:** _For future reference, this is the point where IT JUST GOT REAL. The twist was a pre-meditated move, a hint at the larger mysteries at play in this universe. Plus, you know. Poké-zaku. Don't lie to yourself, you know it's going to be awesome_

For the record, I did not just ruin the story there. As Varanus will tell you, this is the part that makes this story awesome. Hell, I might even manage to out-do Fairly English Story with this one.


	16. Evergrande

Alrighty then. Last chapter was a bit of a brain melter, but it's a major plot point that will start to make no sense at all next chapter.

For now, all I'll say is that the Geass Order worked different in this story than it did before.

Pokémon change a lot of things.

Also, I appear to have scared a lot of people by declaring that I intend to out-do Fairly English Story. I stand by that statement.

Also, Deviant Fish, Hypnosis puts the pokémon to sleep. Doesn't control them.

Another important announcement, this is where the story stops being set in indiscriminate Japan, and now in specific places in the Pokémon universe. The school exists in Cerulean city.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

'_A few months ago, Sableye were lucky to capture one motorcycle.'_ Lelouch smirked to himself. _'Now, we're using a friggin submarine as our mobile base! It's official; love Rakshad.'_

"_And now I'd like to announce the results of __the__ restructuring __of our__ organisation!" _Zero declared aboard said submarine. "_Supreme Commander of Military Forces shall be Toudou Kyoshiro!"_ This was met with murmuring agreement. "_Chief Intelligence Commissioner, in charge of intelligence gathering and public relations shall be Diethard Ried!"_

Now for the murmuring disagreement. "Zero." Nagisa of the Heavenly Blades shouted. "I do not mean to sound like a racist, but what is your reasoning for placing a Britannian in such a sensitive position?"

"_My reasoning?"_ Zero asked, waving his arm out. "_What of me then? As you all know, I am not Japanese either. All I need is the ability to produce results. That is the sole reason you all follow me. Matters of race, past experience or tactics mean nothing to me."_

"Alright, alright." Tamaki groaned.

"_Silver Laguada shall be the head of the internal police and Black-Op's corp,"_ Zero continued, "_and_ _Ohgi Kaname shall be my second-in-command and head of staff."_

"Me?" Ohgi asked.

"Disappointed?" Tamaki jeered.

"N-no." he answered, shaking his head.

"Well, you were our original leader." Sugiyama reminded him.

"And it's not like he's gonna pick a newcomer." Minami added.

"_Rakshad, you are in charge on Research and Development."_ Zero added.

"Of course." She sighed, puffing at her pipe.

"_Kallen Kozuki, you are in charge of Squad Zero." _

"Squad Zero?" Kallen asked.

"_Squad Zero is the unit directly under my command." _Lelouch explained. "_Think of it as my honour guard."_

A chard appeared on the screen behind Zero. "_Asahina Shougo will command Squad One."_ He continued. "_Senba Ryouga will command Squad Two. Kagesaki Kizuna will command Squad Three…"_

* * *

"_Finally, Tamaki Shinichiro will command the third Special Operations unit."_ Zero finished. "_That is all."_

"Alright!" Tamaki cheered, oblivious to how low in the chain of command his new position actually was.

'_Nothing for C.C.?'_Kallen thought to herself, glancing at the green-haired woman. The witch caught her look and made a point of stoking her hair in a bored manner, clearly showing she saw such matters as beneath her.

"Zero, I would like to discuss something with you later on." Diethard announced.

* * *

Like everyone else, Lelouch had been shocked to discover Suzaku had been chosen for knighthood, not in the least because it had been his own actions that had catapulted his friend into the position. He hadn't known the woman his friend had occasionally mentioned had been his sister Euphemia, but in hindsight he supposed the hints were there. Still, it was with mixed feelings that he watched the ceremony, and so was rather curious when Diethard brought up a projection of the scene to underline whatever point he was trying to make.

Diethard stopped the video of Suzaku Kururugi's knighthood ceremony close-up of the young man's face . "Suzaku Kururugi." He told Zero. "He may become a rallying point for Britannian sympathisers in the Eleven population. I suggest assassinating him."

"Assassinate him?" Ohgi asked.

"I see." Rakshad nodded. "Those against Britannia see Zero as their figurehead, but the collaborators haven't taken a liking to anyone at all."

"People cannot be made to act on principle alone." Diethard explained. "Now that the Britannians have a symbol on their side, the most effective tactic would be assassination."

"I disagree!" Toudou told him sharply. "Such backhanded tactics will lose us the support of the Japanese population."

"That's right." Ohgi nodded. "The Order of the Black Knights are allies of justice; we do not kill unarmed people. Assassination implies that we target him personally, when he can't fight back."

"I merely suggested the most effective and least risky plan." Diethard explained. "Zero will decide."

Lelouch had already discussed the possibility of this with C.C., and reached both his decision and how he would go about explaining it some time ago. "_We do not attack unarmed people._" Zero told them._ "If he falls in battle, that is a different matter entirely, but for now he does not meet the criteria to be targeted personally by the Black Knights. There is, however, the issue of his 'Dragon Rush' to consider.  
"I want to learn how he does such a thing and how we can use it." _Zero told his officers. "_The best way to do that is if he is alive."_

* * *

Back at the Ashford Academy, Rivalz juggled a bottle of champagne, pouring some into the new knight's glass. "I DECLARE THIS PARTY TO CELEBRATE SUZAKU KURURUGI'S PROMOTION TO KNIGHTHOOD _OPEN!!_"

Lelouch rushed into the party room, tugging on his school blazer, before backtracking, seeing Nina looking at a computer screen in the adjacent room. "Not coming to the party Nina?" he asked her.

"I-I'm fine." Nina hurriedly replied. "I'll just do this work…"

"What is it?" Lelouch asked, looking over her shoulder. The computer screen was an indescribable mess of figures and coloured lines hastily scurrying up the screen.

"Erm… I'm just analysing some DNA I found on a comet that landed in the school grounds…" Nina murmured, seemingly at ease with the pandemonium on screen.

"Probably one of the few things I don't get." Lelouch sighed, standing up straight. "Well, at least come and have a drink with everyone, if not for Suzaku, then for Princess Euphemia's sake."

"Eh?" Nina asked, looking up at him in surprise, before blushing slightly and looking back at the computer. "Um… I'll… think about it…"

Lelouch shook his head absently and slunk into the party to see Kallen approaching Suzaku with murder in her eyes and her hidden purse-knife in her hand.

"Hey! Kallen!" Shirley shouted. "Can you give me a hand with these?"

Kallen ignored her, focused only on her target.

Lelouch reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Shirley needs your help."

"I'll be there in a minute…" Kallen said, trying to tug her hand free.

"Help out Shirley. That's the _only_ thing that needs to be done right now." He told her pointedly, before turning to Suzaku. "Hey, Sir Prancalot!" he shouted over the crowd.

Suzaku turned to his friend and smiled. "Very funny." He laughed, walking over to him. Kallen glanced between them and slinked off into the crowd.

"So, so sorry!" shouted a man in a labcoat from the door, standing there with Nina. "We've got work to do, Suzaku!"

"Uh, right…" Suzaku sighed.

"Who's that?" Lelouch asked.

"My boss." Suzaku chuckled as Milly walked up to the scientist.

"Lloyd!" Milly asked him, surprised to see the strange man . "Do you need something?"

"Oh? Do you know him Milly?" Nina asked.

"We're engaged." Lloyd told her in his outdoor voice, much to the shock of everyone in the room. "Aren't we?" Lloyd asked Milly after the swarm of gasps.

"Ah, there it is." Suzaku nodded.

"You knew?" Lelouch asked.

"Yep." Suzaku grinned sheepishly.

"I'll kill 'im." Rivalz snarled, slipping the blades out of his arm. "Whoever this guy is, I'll tear his guts out."

"He's a Count." Suzaku warned.

"A Count!?" Rivalz slipped the blades back surreptitiously. "Well, alright, but what exactly is their relationship?" he asked Suzaku.

"They're engaged." Lelouch pointed out.

"NOOOOOO!!!" Rivalz screamed, clutching his shaven head. "IT'S!! NOT!! POSSIBLE!!" He turned tail and ran out of the room, knocking several students onto the floor in his retreat.

"So, um, have we been mobilised?" Suzaku asked Lloyd as they stepped out of the busy room, trailed by Lelouch.

"Yup." Lloyd nodded. "There's a VIP coming by ship in Evergrande city, and we need to greet him." He explained. "Of course, Lancelot and Princess Euphemia are to come too.

Lelouch took in all this information, and began to formulate a plan.

* * *

Evergrande.

The pokémon league head office in Hoenn, and Britannia's second biggest palace in Area Eleven, after the Indigo Plateau.

Euphemia was going to that island to greet a nobleman from Britannia. Suzaku Kururugi, as her knight, must therefore be there too.

Because of the size of the small island, while it will be filled with many, many powerful trainers, their maneuverability will be limited, especially considering their space would be cut in half by Victory Road.

"_The goal of this mission is to capture Suzaku Kururugi and the Lancelot."_ Zero told his knights as they travelled to Hoenn by submarine. "_We will win this battle and capture them, fair and square."_

"What shall we do once we've captured them?" Tamaki asked.

"_I would like to deal with them personally."_ Zero told his knights.

* * *

"_Diethard." _Zero said as he approached the man later. "_What did you tell Kallen to do?"_

"I merely asked her to do a little information gathering on Suzaku Kururugi." The Britannian reporter lied. "Please stop jumping to conclusions."

Zero turned him around and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, slamming the Britannian man into the wall. "_Don't Screw With Me."_ Lelouch snarled. "_I made an explicit decision and you went behind my back __and attempted to circumvent MY authority to do __what _only you_ thought was best."_

Zero dropped the man. "_You've been demoted."_ He told Ried. "_You are now Blue Izayoi's personal assistant. She's now got your job. I want results, not good intentions. Why did you even join the Black Knights in the first place, if you cannot grasp even that?"_

"When I first saw you, when you rescued Suzaku Kururugi, you sent shivers down my spine." Diethard told Zero, getting to his feet. "It was as though a new age had taken human form, and was standing in front of me." He grinned. "I want to record you as you build your organisation, overthrow a nation, and eventually rule over the entire world! I will record your history from as close as I can get!" he declared. "Nothing is more exiting for me."

"_Record?"_ Zero asked. "_If you change events yourself, you'll be making history, not recording it."_

"There is no such thing as objective information, Zero!" Diethard told his master. "Journalism is, after all, a human creation."

"_You are not to involve yourself with military affairs.__ No exceptions. No loopholes.__"_ Lelouch ordered him.

"Understood." Diethard answered with a bow.

* * *

Within half an hour, the Black Knights were attacking Evergrande.

Now that the chain-of-command was in place and made clear, maneuvering the troops was so much easier than it was before.

Toudou was doing very well himself. Regigigas was still warming up, so while its power built up it served as a focal point for the enemy, luring them into attacking it. Chiba and Asahina would then sweep in with their suicune and regice, freezing and trapping the enemy and making them easy pickings for the registeel and regirock of Senba and Urabe. It was clear now how he managed to hold off Britannian's without a pokémon centre to heal his pokémon. Frankly, Lelouch was looking forward to seeing them in action once regigigas moved beyond its slow start.

Things were going exactly to plan, even as Suzaku entered the battle with his Lancelot.

"_Now… Suzaku…_" Lelouch said to himself atop raikou. "_Come to me."_

The mewtwo warped to inches in front of Zero before the raikou leapt back and began running. Suzaku gave chase, and Lelouch began leading him into the trap that he'd set.

There weren't any problems until the raikou landed into the pit of sand, and Suzaku hesitated for the faintest second before plunging headfirst into the crater and launching a psywave at raikou and Lelouch.

He took the damage, getting launched off his mount as Rakshad pressed a button on her controller. Thirteen wobbuffet burst from the sand in a circle around them and used their Shadow Tag ability at the same time, trapping them within.

Mewtwo fell to his knees, completely overpowered. "W-what..?" Suzaku managed, struggling to walk.

"_I wish to talk to you, Suzaku Kururugi." _Zero told him, returning his raikou and limping to the edge and placing his pokéballs outside the circle. "_This circle tends to damage pokéballs, so I would suggest handing them over for the time being."_

Tamaki slid down into the sand and confiscated them from the soldier before legging it outside the circle.

'_These wobbuffet are Rakshad's pride and joy:'_ Lelouch thought to himself. _'The only ones in the world capable of learning moves other than Mirror Coat, Safeguard, Counter__, Encore__ and Destiny Bond.  
'Punishment: a move that gets stronger with its target. These wobbuffet should not be able to learn this technique in a thousand generations of breeding, but because they have, I can move somewhat freely while Suzaku is paralysed; and mewtwo is completely overwhelmed.'_

"_We will treat you as a prisoner of war in accordance with international laws."_ Zero continued. "_If you refuse, you will be attacked from all sides."_

Suzaku grunted. "What do you want?"

"_I'll be frank._" Lelouch told him. "_I want you to join my ranks."_

"Is that a threat?" Suzaku asked. "Even so, I refuse. As I told you before, I do not believe in change wrought from improper methods."

"_Then let me ask you this."_ Zero replied. "_Is the current peace meaningless too? Seven years ago, if Japan had resisted to the bitter end, what would have happened to it? The Chinese and European unions would have intervened, and Japan would have been split into three. They would _still_ be fighting over it."_ He explained. "_So, the current peace only exists because of Japan's hurriedly made unconditional surrender."_

"Yes." Suzaku replied in shame. "I fight to protect the peace my father died to protect."

"_No, you're wrong."_ Zero replied, and Lelouch was disgusted with himself for what he was about to do. This was the kind of thing Mao did to Shirley.

Regardless, Lelouch pressed on. "_Prime Minister Kururugi, the lawful elected leader of Japan, did not decide to surrender."_ He said, using the information Silver had taken from Team Rocket's database. "_That decision was made when his murderer forced that decision onto the people."_ Suzaku gasped in shock and fear. "_Chaos ran through the government, and they had no choice but to surrender. Do you understand?"_ Lelouch asked Suzaku. "_Your people were robbed of their right to decide. A single, selfish criminal overruled the will of an entire nation!"_

"How…" Suzaku whispered. "How do you know this..?"

"_There is a way you can atone."_ Lelouch told him in an almost silent voice, sick to the stomach with himself, but accepting that this was better than Geassing him. He wouldn't do that to his friend. "_Make the choice that the people of Japan were denied their right to make. Walk the path from which they strayed seven years ago; Rise Up Against Britannia!"_

"Rise up?" Suzaku growled with a glare. "That again!?"

"_That is one path you can take."_ Zero told him, stepping back slightly. "_Or would you continue to force your will onto the entire nation for the rest of eternity? Is that truly peace?"_

_\_ _"Can you hear me -^- Suzaku!?" __\_ came the voice on Suzaku's military communicator. _\_ "_Please respond!" _\__

"May I?" Suzaku asked.

"_Do as you wish."_

Lelouch stepped back and listened into the orders, pretending to ignore until he realised what was going on. "_HE'S ORDERING ONE OF HIS OWN MEN TO DIE!?"_ Lelouch shouted.

Suzaku reached forward, getting Zero into a gearbox and slamming him against the ground, pulling the blade from Zero's waist and bringing it to his throat. "_Suzaku… how dare you?" _Lelouch asked him.

"I cannot accept your methods." Suzaku snarled, dragging Zero deeper into the circle. "All I can do is…"

Kallen burst into the circle on her Gurren, which froze and collapsed, flipping her further into the circle and knocking Suzaku and Zero over into the sand.

"_YOU'RE GOING TO DIE HERE!!"_ Lelouch shouted as Suzaku recovered and kneeled atop him. "_DO YOU REALLY WANT THIS!?"_

Lelouch looked up as a swarm of dragons flew from above, and the Black Knights focused all their attacks into stopping their assault.

"SUZAKU!!" Kallen shouted, running towards them. "IT'S ME! KALLEN STADTFIELD! FROM THE STUDENT COUNCIL! LET HIM GO!!"

"A soldier follows his orders until the very end." Suzaku stated, his attention entirely on Zero as he knocked Kallen out with an elbow to her face.

"_It's nice and easy, isn't it?"_Lelouch asked Suzaku. "_Having someone else give the orders? WHAT ABOUT YOUR WILL!?"_

"SHUT UP!!" Suzaku shouted, pressing the blade against Zero's throat in the gap under the helmet. "I decided this FOR MYSELF!!"

Then the sky above them grew dark.

Kallen groggily pushed herself up from the sand, then looked up into the air, realizing what was about to occur with a face of pure panic.

Princess Euphemia rode past the distracted Black Knights and into the circle on her cresselia, which collapsed under the wobbuffet's dominion, leaving her tumbling into the ground.

Suzaku looked up and saw the draconic behemoth floating high above, the legendary king of the sky come to judge them. "R-rayquaza…" he gasped.

"_SUZAKU!!"_ Lelouch screeched as the legendary serpent began to charge its Hyper Beam. "_YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!!"_

"IT'S BETTER THAN DISOBEYING ORDERS!!" Suzaku bellowed.

"YOU IDIOT!!" Lelouch roared, opening the slot in his helmet to reveal a blazing Geass. His eye met Suzaku's. The dragon above them released it's attack with a screech like grinding metal, bathing them in a furious flare of gold.

"**LIVE!! ON!!**"

And the world was consumed with golden flames.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Next chapter, things get epic. I might even manage to outdo Fairly English Story with this one.


	17. Mirage Island

You know, in the anime, this was the bit where deeper plot was hinted at.

I'm going to go further with this. Those of you who've watched Code Geass all the way to the end _and_ have really, _really_ explored Hoenn will crap bricks when they read this chapter.

To clarify, this is where it becomes more than Code Geass with pokémon instead of mechs. _This_ is where this becomes Code Geass in the Pokémon world.

Now though, reviews. Deviate Fish, don't worry. Deviation starts now, hits real in R2.

Poggg, that's the Code Geass subber's fault, not mine.

Ryder, I like these little shout outs. I _didn't_ have to do it, but it's funny even without Fairly English Story.

Naru-Chan, if you've played a game called Emerald, you will like this chapter a lot.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Lelouch woke up on the beach, and immediately took in his surroundings. _'Where am I?'_ he thought, looking at the sand underneath him, the waves on his right hand side and the sheer cliff face on his right.

'_It's another island.'_ Lelouch realised, beginning to walk around the stone cliff in his Zero mask and cloak. _'The climate and vegetation suggest that I'm still in Hoenn, though I believe that I'm further west than Evergrande. I've no pokémon, no pokénav, and no way of contacting the outside world. Even if I did, it'd be difficult to contact Ohgi, and even if I called the army as a Britannian citizen, then I'd—'_

Lelouch turned around the corner and met a dripping wet Princess Euphemia, her white dress soaked to the skin. For a moment they stared at each other, too surprised to react. Lelouch's hand twitched and he reached for the combat knife hidden at his belt. He froze, however, at her next words.

"Lelouch?" she asked.

'_What!'_

"It's you, isn't it Lelouch?" Euphemia asked Zero. "I haven't told anyone who you are, but please let me know before you kill me."

He hesitated, his hand hovering over his knife for a moment, before realizing…

This was no enemy. This was Euphemia. His _sister._

Slowly, he raised and pressed his hand against his mask, and the plates covering the back of his head withdrew into the top. He then lifted the mask from his face and pulled the cloth covering his mouth and nose.

"Lelouch…" Euphemia repeated happily, sinking to her knees and crying freely as her half-brother looked down on her mournfully.

He took off his cloak and handed it to her. "Your clothes need to dry." He told her, turning around a corner to give her some privacy. "So, how long have you know?"

He heard her start to undress. "Since the hotel-jacking." She replied.

"I see…" Lelouch nodded. "I may have said too much then."

"I wasn't sure until just now though." Euphemia told him.

Lelouch gave an amused grunt. "I guess I underestimated you." He told her. "Why didn't you tell Cornelia though?"

"My sister wouldn't listen to anything I had to say." She told him. "Besides, I was sad just thinking about it…"

Lelouch didn't reply.

"How's… Nunnally?" Euphemia asked, trying to start up something resembling a conversation.

"She's living with me, but she still hasn't healed." Lelouch answered.

"You must hate me." Euphemia asked.

Lelouch saw some flashes of that day in his memory. "Tell me one thing." Lelouch asked, willing the images away. "Do you know anything about my mother's death?"

"I'm sorry, no." Euphemia replied sadly. "My sister seems to be looking into it though. She idolised Lady Marianne, after all."

Lelouch looked up at the wingull and pelliper flying through the sky above their heads.

"May I ask you a question in return?" Euphemia asked.

"Shoot."

"Are you Zero, or…"

Lelouch glanced around the corner to see his half-sister huddled in Zero's cape, her clothes laid out on the sand to dry.

"I'm Lelouch." He answered, turning back around to his corner. "Yeah, I'm the Lelouch you know right now, Euphie."

"L-Lelouch…" she replied, sobbing. The effect was rather ruined, however, by her stomach growling. "I'm so relieved, I'm starting to feel hungry." She admitted with embarrassment.

"You stay here then." Lelouch told her, standing up. "I'll bring something back."

* * *

A few minutes later he was atop the hill with a sharpened wooden spear and was sneaking through the long grass.

'_The principle's the same as catching a pokémon really._' Lelouch told himself as he crept up on the wynaut in front of him. _'It's just that instead of catching the pokémon…'_

* * *

"LOOK OUT!"

Euphemia turned to see Lelouch sliding down the rock face holding something blue and red on a wooden spear and a herd of outraged wynaut behind him.

They stopped chasing him at the cliff face, and Lelouch landed harmlessly in the sand, panting for breath.

Then Euphie saw what was impaled on Lelouch's stick.

"L-Lelouch… is that..?" she asked, looking at the pokémon's corpse.

He held it up proudly. "Dinner." He smiled.

"YOU CAN'T EAT WYNAUT!" She shouted.

Lelouch tilted his head. "Why not?" he asked, but the Princess didn't appreciate the pun.

"You need to bury it, you, you, YOU MURDERER!"

"Well, yes." Lelouch nodded with a shrug. "You kill to eat. You eat to survive. Don't you know that a hundred milktank die every time father orders a feast?" he asked the princess.

Euphie covered her mouth in shock, then stormed around her brother. "I'll go find some berries." She snapped, storming past him.

"You might want to get dressed first." Lelouch suggested, eyes averted, picking up the cloak that had slipped off her in the confusion.

Euphie looked down at her naked body, covered herself, ran to grab her clothes and rushed into the bushes, her face as pink as her hair.

Lelouch sighed and pulled out the knife he had used to carve the spear, and got to work gutting and cleaning the pokémon.

'_Still so naïve… in this world our Father has created, power stands above everything else. The weak die to feed the strong. Although, even if it is naïve…'_ he thought grimly as he skinned the wynaut, his knife slicing through the fatty tissue binding pelt to meat, _'I can't blame her for wanting to avoid this path...'_

* * *

Wynaut meat tasted surprisingly nice roasted, though Euphie didn't want any, sticking to the few fist-sized berries she'd found in the forest up the cliffs.

"The stars haven't changed." Euphie told Lelouch after they'd eaten, having let the dinner issue slide. "How nice it would be if we could look at the stars together like we used to."

"I had a brother back then." Lelouch remembered. Euphie nodded, remembering the little boy Lelouch spoke of, who had always tagged along beside him. Those days were… better.

"Won't you come back?" she asked him, her eyes growing heavy. "I know we can make it like old times, somehow…"

"It would be so nice, being able to return." Lelouch agreed as the princess fell asleep.

'_Euphie. I need a reason to fight… for my continued existence…'_

* * *

The next morning, Lelouch ate the remainder of the pokémon meat for breakfast and set out exploring the caves he'd discovered around the island. He was hoping to find some sort of water pokémon or such to help him and Euphemia find their way back to Area 11.

He didn't like what he found.

The caves did not seem to be occupied by any pokémon whatsoever. Instead, they were filled with massive stone tablets, with carved humps and dots running down their faces.

"Wow…" Euphie gasped in the torchlight as Lelouch ran a hand along one of the stone's surface. "These carvings must be thousands of years old…"

"So why are they in English?" Lelouch asked, almost angrily.

"Eh?" Euphie's eyebrows shot up, surprised.

"These dots…" Lelouch told her. "They're Braille, a language only created a few hundred years ago for the blind."

"You sure?" Euphie asked, running up to the plate Lelouch was reading.

"In this cave we have lived." Lelouch read. "We owe all to the pokémon. But, we sealed the pokémon away. We feared it. Those with courage, those with hope, open a door. An eternal pokémon awaits." He turned to her. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"W-what about this one?" Euphie asked, starting to get concerned.

"Our powers were hidden, sealed away by our hearts." Lelouch told her. "The Pokémon opened our eyes, granting us our power again. We sealed our eyes again, unable to control our hearts, lest they be consumed by the powers bestowed upon us."

'_It sounds like the Geass…'_ Lelouch thought. _'If they lost control of their Geass's like Mao and hand to live blindly, then it makes sense that they'd have… to… use… Braille…'_

'_A colony of Geass users?'_ Lelouch realised, placing the torch in his mouth and patting himself down for a notebook. _'Damn!'_ he swore to himself when he couldn't find one.

"Lelouch..?" Euphie asked as he was overcome by a look of sheer determination, reading each plate like a possessed man.

'_Everything has meaning, existence has meaning, being alive has meaning, have dreams, use power.'_ Lelouch read quickly, memorising the passage before moving onto the next one. _'Is the soul ruled by the heart, or can the heart rule the soul? Are our eyes a window into our madness or does madness show through our eyes?'_

They were all like that. Riddles, poems, but all of them in English and hinting at the Geass and this Pokémon that rules over it.

'_So pokémon created the Geass?'_ Lelouch calculated. _'I've thought of the Geass as a pokémon attack before, but this..?'_

"What… what is…" he muttered, eyes darting to a new tablet to scan.

"Lelouch?" Euphie asked worriedly, grabbing his shoulder gently.

"STAY OUT OF MY WAY!" Lelouch shouted, pushing her back as he continued reading.

This… this was too much.

'_Does C.C. know about this?'_ Lelouch thought desperately as he moved to the next tablet. "First comes relicanth last comes wailord WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!"

He didn't notice Euphie slink out of the cave in fear. This wasn't the brother she remembered.

The Lelouch she knew wouldn't get this obsessed over some dots in a cave.

* * *

It was raining when Lelouch left the cave "_EUPHIE!"_ He shouted from under his mask. "_EUPHIE!"_

'_Not good.'_ Lelouch snarled internally. _'I must've scared her off when I was reading those tablets…'_

It was worth it. If there was a colony of people like Mao who had to keep their eyes shut just to control their powers, then that would make the Braille make much more sense.

What wasn't making any sense, however, was that the beachside cave he entered only had one exit. When Lelouch went through it to leave, it opened into the side of a steep valley.

There was brown stone behind him and grey cliff-face ahead of him. A narrow stone path led the way to another cave, but on either side there was a deep gorge. _'What the hell?'_ Lelouch asked himself.

He looked at the cave entrance opposite him, and the grey plaque above it.

- Press on, don't turn back – it said in Braille.

Far too high for a blind person to reach.

Lelouch grunted, stepping forward into the cave carefully.

* * *

He spotted her not far ahead, crouching behind an outcrop of rock.

"_Euphie."_ Lelouch whispered, jogging up to her inside the cave and kneeling beside her. "_Are you alright?"_

She didn't respond other than to hush him, pointing over the ledge she was hiding behind.

Lelouch looked over to see several people gathered below, and took care to keep within the shadows as he removed his helmet to listen into the conversation.

"There's been several other sites like this discovered around the world." One man said. "It appears that many of the recent invasions have been aimed at these areas."

'_What?'_ Lelouch asked as another voice, Lloyd, groaned about not being able to study the Rayquaza.

"Euphie!" Suzaku shouted from behind and Lelouch hurriedly replaced the mask and turned around to see Suzaku running towards them, Kallen trailing after him with her hands behind her back.

'_What're they doing here!'_ Lelouch thought angrily. If he had just a few more moments to eavesdrop…

"HEY!" one man shouted. "WHO'S UP THERE!"

"_MOVE!" _Lelouch shouted, pushing Suzaku and Euphemia back as hellfire spewed into the hollow they were hiding in. "_Let's go!"_

"Hold it!" Suzaku declared, grabbing Zero by the arm before turning to Euphemia as she grabbed the wrist grabbing Lelouch. "Euphie..?"

"That's not important right now." She decided as a salamence flew into the hollow. "But right now we need to work together to survive."

Suzaku pushed past the Princess as the salamence hunkered down and charged at the group. The young knight bolted into a running leap and, with a leg wreathed in blue flames, spin-kicked the dragon in the face, breaking its jaw, knocking it back out the way it came. "Looks like it's super-effective…" Suzaku muttered as he landed perfectly, a grin tugging at his mouth despite himself, before running after the other three.

"This doesn't change anything, Zero." He growled, stepping back beside Euphie protectively.

"_On the contrary, this changes everything."_ Lelouch sneered, scanning the walls for more signs. "_Because I can navigate these tunnels, and you cannot."_

"You mean the dots?" Kallen asked as Lelouch twisted around a corner and stopped dead two feet down, before hopping back three steps and spinning on the spot.

The corridor behind them got closed off by a large stone door and the wall before Zero crumbled into sand. "_Like I said,"_ Zero explained._ "I understand the nature of this place."_

'_Truth be told, I don't have the slightest idea as to what the hell is going on.'_ Lelouch admitted to himself, only thinking of running right now. He spotted the next plate ahead.

–Stand on the pedestal, you who seek the scion. The guardian awaits. It bows to the king, to the master– it read.

'_Pedestal? Does it mean this platform?'_ Lelouch thought, looking down at the stone plate they were standing on. 'It certainly doesn't look like a-'

Then the corridor suddenly became blocked on both sides, and the emblem of the Geass glowed a deep red in the ground, circling around Lelouch's feet. _'What!'_ he thought to himself, suddenly hit by the image of a muscular man with blue hair and a neutral face.

The floor descended, rapidly falling into the main chamber of the ruins that they were looking into below. "MAJOR KURURUGI!" one man shouted. "AND ZERO!"

"DON'T ATTACK!" another person shouted. "THEY'VE GOT THE PRINCESS! CAPTURE THEM ALIVE!"

**KRAKOOM!**

A shockwave of energy ripped over them, and everyone turned to see mewtwo float forward out from the twisted wreckage of one of the vans. "Lancelot!" Suzaku shouted, happy to see his pokémon. "Take out Zero!"

Mewtwo landed on the plate between the four people as soldiers surrounded them with guns. He gave a casual glance at the soldiers, and their guns immediately fell cleanly apart, their component parts separated from each other.

"L-Lancelot, what are you-?" said Suzaku, confused.

Mewtwo raised a paw towards Zero.

It dropped a Master Ball into his hands.

Lelouch looked at the object the pokémon had given him, and the Geass symbol on the platform they stood on glowed a bright blue. With a shudder, the plate rose into upwards, a square area of the roof collapsing into sand and mist as the plate ascended through it.

It stopped on the top of the island, at a clearing with several stone structures, the remains of a ceremonial site, from the looks of it. There were three paths, one leading down the mountain and two cave tunnels that lead eastwards and westwards. Zero took a step forward as he spotted more Braille, but was stopped by mewtwo placing his paw on his shoulder.

"Lancelot…" Suzaku gasped. "What's wrong?"

The psychic pokémon ignored his master, sending Kallen down the eastern tunnel with a flick of psychic energy and Zero down the west one before blocking off the paths to either.

"Return."

The mewtwo turned into energy, which rushed past Suzaku and was transported into a great ball. He spun around, and was stunned by the sight of the newcomer who had recalled Lancelot.

"Not your mewtwo mate." A teenage boy with a pikachu seated on his shoulder said amicably, his face hidden under the shadow of his cap. "Now leave."

"Y-yessir!" Suzaku saluted on sheer instinct before turning to Euphemia. "Let's go."

She nodded, taking her knight's hand as he led her away.

The boy walked past them to the junction between the two paths, grinning. "Hope you appreciate what I'm doing for you…" the boy muttered in a vaguely amused tone. He lifted his hat slightly, so a purple glow was just barely visible.

From_ both _his eyes.

* * *

Lelouch groaned, landing in a pool of water. He removed his mask to let water pour out of it, and that's when he saw it.

It was a great beast: like a bird only not at all: like a dragon but not a dragon, its white majesty accentuated by the black areas of its flesh.

Lelouch recognized it's form from sighting and folklore reports given to him by Rakshad. There was no mistaking it- this was Ho-oh's sister, the guardian of the seas.

Lelouch stared at it in awe. "You are…"

"LUUUUGIA!" It screeched, flapping its arms wide before lowering itself to Lelouch.

As if it was _kneeling._

Lelouch didn't need to be told twice. He pressed the master ball against the nape of the pokémon's neck, and it was absorbed within its walls. The ball didn't shake, locking instantly. He then sent the pokémon out, and it towered above him, its eyes filled with wisdom as it appraised its new master. Lelouch felt a tingling at the back of his skull, no doubt Lugia's power reading his emotions.

"So, you are the guardian who bows to the king?" Lelouch asked, meeting the legendary's gaze, his Geass flaring as proof. "**It is true, I bear the power of the king… but I warn you- I am no guardian like you. My path is littered with death, and my oceans are drowned in blood. Still, you will fight with me?**"

The silver bird dropped down and presented its back to him.

"Lugia…" Lelouch whispered, Geass dying as he climbed atop it as he donned his mask. _"Very well then. Let us go greet your sister." _The pokémon screeched in consensus and rose into the air, before plummeting swiftly into the water, vanishing into the dark depths.

* * *

It burst from the ocean and flew alongside Kallen's ho-oh. "_HELLO THERE KALLEN!"_ Lelouch shouted as they flew over the open ocean.

"Thank goodness…" Kallen sighed as the two legendary guardians slowed to greet each other. "Are you alright?"

"_Never better!"_ Lelouch announced. "_But I am glad to be out of that place!"_

'_And now I have a lot to ask that witch about.'_ He added internally.

"I contacted Ohgi!" Kallen told her leader, showing him his pokénav. "I got it when Suzaku's mewtwo went berserk back in Evergrande, and everyone's fine!" She declared. "But some Japanese boats are attacking Rustboro, Dewford and Meteor Falls! The submarine is en-route to see what's going on, but we need your orders!"

"_And your status?"_

"I was captured by Suzaku, so he knows my identity now." She reported. "Other than that I'm fine, but… Lelouch… I was speaking to Suzaku and he… he said that he killed his father…" Kallen said, concern and uncertainty in her voice.

"_I know. I found out about it myself recently." _Lelouch replied, his voice carrying a hint of shame that he hoped Kallen wouldn't detect. _"I tried to use it to convince him to join our side, but it turned out to be poorly informed decision. It actually explains a lot, as it seems he's had a death-wish ever since..."_

'_I'm sorry Suzaku.'_ Lelouch apologised internally. _'I never wanted to use the Geass on you.'_

He shook his head. "_Get on Kallen."_ He ordered. "_We'll travel faster underwater."_

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

YEAH! NOW WE'RE TALKING!


	18. Battle For Hoenn

Go little drummer boy pa rum pum pum pum

Just something I remembered, in response to a question Ryder asked a few days ago. After I return from my mission, I intend to become an author, and I have two stories in the works.

Anyway, in this chapter, I'm trying out a couple of new things.

1) I'm gonna start writing scenes about people other than Lelouch. The last few chapters have been a bit short for my liking, and I intend to rectify that.

2) it's not Code Geass with pokémon anymore. It's now Pokémon with Code Geass.

Now let the battle for Hoenn commence.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"_We do hereby declare the restoration of the independent nation of Japan!"_

* * *

_\_ "The leader of the group which captured and currently occupies Rustboro city, Sawasaki Atsushi, once served as Chief Cabinet Secretary in the Kururugi Administration." _\_ The news reported. _\_ "He was exiled to the Chinese Union after the war, but has returned, presumably to take advantage of the recent disarray in our armed forces brought about by Zero. The involvement of the Black Knights is still under investigation, but the recent bombing of Evergrande would suggest…" _\_

"We're _not_ involved dammit!" Tamaki barked at the screen in the sub.

"What did the Kyoto group say?" Ohgi asked.

"They didn't." Diethard started before getting cut off by Blue.

"The only thing they've said lately is about digging up some moonstone in mount moon, like that was a surprise." The brunette explained.

"Zero, what're we going to do?" Kallen asked, towelling her hair after their underwater trip to the sub.

Lelouch thought about it, then made his decision. "_We are not joining up with Sawasaki._" He announced. "_His regime is not legitimate, but a puppet government under the Chinese Union's control."_

"But they wave the Japanese flag-"

"_The flag is nothing but a veil covering their true identity." _Zero explained. "_There is no future for them. We must ignore this so-called Japan."_

"So, you're just saying-"

"That we're going to let Britannia take them out?"

"Zero, forgive me for my rudeness, but I think you should clarify our objective." Diethard suggested.

"Yeah, forget about Sawasaki for now." Ohgi told his leader. "What's our current objective?"

"_The creation of the independent nation of Tokyo._" Zero announced, setting off many murmurs.

"I-independent?"

"A country?"

"A country of our own?"

"Is he serious?"

"I see…" Diethard said with delight and amazement. "You are simply amazing…"

"Wait a minute!" Ohgi shouted. "Sure, the Order of the Black Knights has grown powerful and everything, but-"

"We're up against a world superpower that controls over a third of the human population." Urabe pointed out.

"Yeah, we can't do that alone!" Tamaki shouted.

"_Then let me ask you, who is to defeat Britannia for you!"_ Zero shouted accusingly. "_Do you honestly think that someone will come and help? That our perfect chance will show up? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!"_ Lelouch bellowed. "_Change will never happen if you don't MAKE it happen!"_

* * *

Lelouch tore his off mask once he was in his private chambers and opened up his computer to check on news on Suzaku. He'd been charged with insubordination for outright refusing the order to hold down Zero while Schneizel's Rayquaza blasted them both into oblivion, instead killing one of the wobbuffet holding him down and ordering mewtwo to move everyone to safety.

He hadn't been punished, however, since Schneizel overruled the court martial, explaining that it was unreasonable to ask such an otherwise loyal soldier with such talent and value for human life to stand there and die, but Suzaku had turned his knighthood in to Euphemia in shame.

"Sorry, Suzaku." Lelouch apologised. "I really, really did not want to do such an under-handed thing."

"And guilt tripping him with his father's death was any better?"

Lelouch spun in his chair to see C.C. lying on his bed, cuddling Jiro while looking at the ceiling with boredom on her face. "How did you gain that knowledge, by the way?"

"Silver handed me Giovanni's personal records of the incident." Lelouch explained with a sigh. "And either way, I have some things I wish to ask you about, witch."

"What like?" C.C. asked with a miserable sigh.

"'In this cave we have lived.'" Lelouch quoted, remembering the slabs he read earlier. "'We owe all to the pokémon. But, we sealed the pokémon away. We feared it. Those with courage, those with hope, open a door. An eternal pokémon awaits.'  
"'Our powers were hidden, sealed away by our hearts. The Pokémon opened our eyes, granting us our power again. We sealed our eyes again, unable to control our hearts, lest they be consumed by the powers bestowed upon us.'"

Lelouch glared at the witch who merely yawned at his words. "What of it?" She asked.

"They were written in Braille on ancient stone slabs in the caves on the island I washed up on." Lelouch asked.

"Not one of the languages I ever bothered learning." C.C. admitted, then it clicked. "Doesn't ancient usually mean older than Braille?"

"I was hoping you could tell me." Lelouch stated. "Because by the sounds of it, I found the remains of a lost colony of Geass users." C.C.'s eyebrows furrowed together. "What's more, so have Britannia. By the sounds of it, there are ruins like them all over the world, and Britannia's invasions have been targeting them specifically."

"What is your question?" C.C. asked pointedly, not enjoying where this conversation was headed.

"I suppose the first would be if my father has a Geass."

"Who knows?" C.C. sighed, rolling over to face the wall. "I'm not the only one with the power to hand out Geass you know."

"How many others?" Lelouch asked, refusing to let her dodge this question.

Nevertheless, C.C. didn't answer. "Hmph, fine then." Lelouch asked. "Just wave if the number is less than ten."

He glanced as a little arm poked from a gap in the witch's embrace and waved frantically.

Lelouch smiled. "Thank you Jiro." He said, placing the helmet back on his face and headed for the door. "_Try not to suffocate him witch."_

* * *

The Britannian Sky Ship Rayquaza flew across Hoenn, slowed down by the weight of the mobile fortress it was carrying, but still making an impressive speed in the heavy rain.

What was most impressive was the way it dealt with the oncoming lightning and blizzards.

It roared.

They stopped dead and dissolved before the great sky serpent's wrath.

Suzaku and Lancelot then launched into the air, the mewtwo once more burdened by the cumbersome grey armour, but also carrying a red box on its shoulders that siphoned energy into the jetpack that had been added to Suzaku's white and golden armour.

They flew towards Rustboro with great speed, charging towards the Devon corporation that was acting as their military base.

Suzaku's plan was simple. The troops who were fighting to take control over Hoenn were rallying behind Sawasaki Atsushi. If they lose him, then the so-called 'legitimate government' will collapse, and the Chinese Union will be forced to retreat, having lost their reason to be there.

Mewtwo swerved in the air with Suzaku, launching blasts of energy at the Chinese Army's flying pokémon.

Years ago, the Britannian army had experimented with sending pokémon into battle without trainers, and sending the pokémon orders over audio communication devices while their trainers stayed safe within the base.

The system, however, failed miserably, and it was discovered that pokémon will only accept orders from a trainer if the trainer is 'fighting alongside it' in the pokémon's eyes.

If there is no risk for the trainer, then the pokémon will not obey.

That was why the float system jetpack was developed.

It is powered by moonstone, and takes charge from the pokémon connected to it, but until now there were few pokémon that this system could be used effectively with, as most pokémon that could both fly and were strong enough to spare energy to power the system were usually large enough to ride on, such as dragonite, or metagross.

However, since mewtwo was human-sized and hated letting humans climb on its back, it made a perfect test subject for the system's effectiveness in battle.

So far, it was working. The added risk for Suzaku meant that Lancelot was more responsive to his orders, which made up for the minimal loss in power.

If they got the funding, Lloyd could advance this system so it didn't need to be powered by a particular pokémon, but even lent floating capabilities to pokémon as soon as the trainer released them from the pokéball.

Aerial pokémon battles for all pokémon without having to ride them. It would revolutionise warfare as the world knew it.

And, if nothing else, one thing was guaranteed.

It would certainly be interesting to see a diglett's feet.

* * *

_\_ _"Trainer of the approaching pokémon, are you the son of Kururugi?" __\_ Sawasaki asked over an open channel. _\_ "_I see… so you are indeed his child…" __\_

"My father has nothing to do with this." Suzaku broadcasted back as he and Lancelot moved in to land outside the Rusturf tunnel. "I have come simply to end the fighting. I am asking for your surrender."

A wave of pokémon flitted out from the darkness as soldiers rushed to their position. Murkrow swiftly dove in to attack, but were either batted aside by Lancelot or cut down by Suzaku.

_\_ "_So you would quash the dream of an independent Japan?"__\_ Sawasaki's voice echoed in his ear.

"No, but these violent methods are not the way for it to come about." Around them, gastly and sableye sent shadowy wave after wave of attack towards them, forcing Suzaku to use the float system to dodge a few times.

_\_ "_I see. You're still but a child, bound by your simplistic ideals of justice." __\_

"No, I—"

* * *

**\_|\_ GRRAARRGGH! _/|_/**

**_/ |/___________\| \_**

* * *

Suzaku twisted around to be backhanded by a huge, red, stone-like paw, launching him into the trees. Fortunately his armour absorbed most of the damage, but as he pushed himself up to see his assailant he felt an acute web of pain shoot across his torso.

Nevertheless, he got a good look at the monster. It was larger than any land-based pokémon he had ever seen, and sun shone through the lightning and rain on its huge, red back. "G-groudon!" Suzaku gasped. "But, then, why is it still raining…"

'_They have a kyogre too…' _he realised. "LANCELOT!" Suzaku shouted, grunting at the pain of his broken ribs. "USE SOLARBEAM!"

Both mewtwo and groudon took in the bright sunlight filtering through the storm, charging them faster than they could even in daytime, let alone in at sunset like this.

The two orange beams collided in midair as groudon and mewtwo fought for control, making mewtwo perfect prey for the murkrow and sableye's attacks. Pulses of darkness and swift gouges of beaks peppered Lancelot's armour, some of which managed to draw blood, which distracted the legendary just enough for groudon to get a fire blast in edgeways, knocking mewtwo into the rock face.

"LANCELOT!" Suzaku shouted, running for his pokémon as it stood up with a blast of psychic energy, having taken some clear damage. _'Dammit, the only attack's Lancelot has that are super-effective against ground types like groudon are of the ice type, which'll be useless in this heat!'_ he thought desperately. "Use focus blast!"

The orb of psychic energy enveloping mewtwo shrunk as he focused power into his paws. Glancing up to lock onto his target, Lancelot punched the orb at the behemoth, the orb of energy swelling in size, obliterating the ground in its path.

Groudon burst through the attack and slammed mewtwo deeper into the rock face, though the several dark types were reduced to ash by mewtwo's blow. _\_ "_Give up now Kururugi, and we'll treat you in a manner befitting of your father's son." __\_ Sawasaki pointed out.

"NO!" Suzaku shouted into the mic. "I can't add to my shame by hiding behind my father! Lancelot, recover and use psycho cut!"

_\_ "_You're just like him."_ _\_ Sawasaki chuckled. _\_ "_Stubborn to the core. __Very well then, we have nothing more to discuss."_ _\_ The open channel went dead, but was swiftly replaced by a call on a private channel.

_\_ "SUZAKU KURURUGI!" _\_

"Euphie?" Suzaku asked, forgetting everything for a second.

_\_ "I order you to… um… um…" _\_

"Now's not the time." Suzaku told her, shaking his head and charging at groudon with a sword while mewtwo tried to fight its way out of the behemoth's grip.

_\_ "Um… um… I ORDER YOU TO LOVE ME!" _\_ came her voice, loud enough to be heard outside his pokégear headset.

"Yes your highness!" Suzaku shouted without hesitation, slicing through a Chinese soldier before his brain processed what he'd just been ordered to do. "Wait, what!"

Even Lancelot and groudon were distracted by this. _\_ "And in return, I will love you back!" _\_

"Princess Euphemia…" Suzaku gaped, very lucky that there weren't any soldiers around to take advantage of his current distraction.

_\_ "I love your honest face," _\_ Euphemia told him. _\_ "Your kindness, your stubbornness, your clumsiness, even how that meowth of yours always bites you, all of you! So please, DON'T HATE YOURSELF!" _\_

Lancelot took advantage of everyone's confusion and punched a hole into groudon's stomach, sending it flying. Taking a step forward, he launched a set of psychic blasts at the newer soldiers that began swarming the area, giving Suzaku a look that said _carry on._

"I see…" Suzaku smiled, talking both to the princess and his pokémon. "I really worried you, didn't I?" he picked up his sword again and swung it through the leg of an oncoming tauros, making it stumble and crash into the rock-face behind them. "You're always so spontaneous, like when I met you, and when you told me you were a princess, and when you sent me to school." He sliced off the leg of a Chinese soldier and charged alongside Lancelot. "And when you made me your knight, always so quick to act…"

_\_ "Yes, I can't help it!" _\_ Euphie agreed. _\_ "My feelings always come on so quickly!" _\_

"But, every time something like that happens, I feel closer to you." Suzaku told her, hacking his way through the city boundaries, Lancelot flying above him, giving him an almost amused look. "Thank you." He looked around at the mass of soldiers surrounding him. "May I make one final request?"

_\_ "Final?" _\_ Her happy tone quickly dried up at his words.

"If something happens to me, don't blame yourself." Suzaku told her as mewtwo landed behind him and they stood, back to back, facing their foes. "Also, in that event, please erase all trace of my existence. I don't want to cause my friends any grief, so tell them I transferred into another school."

There was a roar, and a swath of light burst out of the clouds to illuminate groudon, rising from his injuries.

_\_ "Suzaku… no…" _\_ Euphie whispered, growing horror in her voice.

"Groudon really did a number on Lancelot, and both the float unit and its power filler are smashed to pieces." Suzaku told her. Groudon roared again and charged for them, moving far swifter than a behemoth like that should have been able to.

"Oh, also, tell Lloyd, Ms. Cecil, and Prince Schneizel thanks…" Suzaku laughed, tensing up to prepare for his last stand. "I'm conceited until the end, aren't I?" he asked, glancing back at the mewtwo.

It made an approving sound with a smirk behind its broken helmet.

Sunlight began to focus around the red behemoth as it drew in the energy for another colossal Solarbeam.

_\_ "NO! Suzaku! Don't die! LIVE!" _\_

Those words hit a switch in Suzaku's mind. _'What the..?'_

Groudon let lose the blast and Lancelot raised its arms to defend his master. However, something possessed Suzaku, and he stepped in front of the mewtwo, raising his hand against the oncoming rush of light. The Solarbeam crashed onto them, but was held back by a glowing, translucent wall that absorbed the attack completely and, when the groudon grew weary from pressing the attack, sent the blast reeling back at it with double the force.

Groudon screeched in pain as it was consumed by its own beam of light while the soldiers around them stared at the sight with hanging jaws. The red behemoth gave a croaking cry, before collapsing from the damage. Lancelot gave his master a look that seemed to say _you were holding something like that back?_

Suzaku snapped out of his trance and looked down at his hands. "Was that… Mirror Coat?" The click of guns brought him back to the present, where he realised that the soldiers around them that hadn't been caught in the blast still had them in their sights. "I can't… I can't die here…" Suzaku whispered to himself, staring down the barrels of the guns.

A powerful white blast of spiraling wind surged through the sky, crushing the surrounding soldiers and their pokémon. Everyone still alive looked up to see the magnificent white form of Lugia, with C.C. and Zero riding on its back.

"That white-head has no grasp of subtlety does he?" C.C. asked.

"_Yes, but it seems that his brutality was part of a larger plan, this time."_ Zero agreed. "_He rushes in and causes chaos in their headquarters, and even if he fails, it'll make Cornelia's job a lot easier. That is how Schneizel fights."_

Two pidgeot rose up beside them. "_Get out of my way, you two._" Zero ordered, and they were coated in a pink glow and thrown to the ground by lugia's psychic power.

The white beast landed in the crater of ash and Zero disembarked with C.C. "_Can you both still move?"_ he asked, offering a Full Restore and an Elixir to Suzaku.

"So it is you, Zero." Suzaku snarled, ignoring the offered gifts. "What are you planning now?"

"_Sawasaki's actions are subverting everything both you and I have fought for. __I, for one, am__ going to destroy their base."_ Zero explained. "_How about you?"_

Suzaku stared at Zero, then smirked, snatching the gifts. "I'm afraid I can't allow that." He told the masked man, turning to heal his pokémon. "Because Lancelot and I will destroy it first."

"_While we're arguing, that witch has sped off with my raikou."_ Lelouch groaned, watching C.C. ride towards the building before rushing back onto his lugia.

_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Sawasaki shouted over the loudspeaker as Suzaku climbed atop his altaria and flew after C.C. alongside Lancelot and Zero on his lugia. _\_ I THOUGHT YOU WERE AN ALLY OF JAPAN!" _\_

"_We of the Black Knights oppose all who use unnecessary violence!" _Zero shouted in response as lugia launched hydro pumps and ancient powers left, right, and centre, sending entire units of soldiers into disarray.

_\_ "Needless? THIS IS FOR JAPAN!" _\_

"Mr. Sawasaki, if you are indeed working for the good of Japan, then why did you flee to the Chinese Union!"" Suzaku shouted as altaria cast safeguard on the team and Lancelot threw a rhydon into steelix. "You should've stayed and defended the country you claim to love!"

_\_ "YOU DAMNED BABY!" _\_ Sawasaki shouted as Lancelot punched a large hole in the wall of the Devon head office for Suzaku and lugia to break through.

Lelouch and Suzaku were working together to obliterate a common enemy.

This was because the Black Knight's goal wasn't victory. It was to show that they were involved in this fight to defend Japan from invaders.

Of course, it won't be public knowledge, but rumours would spread.

This fight would make the Black Knight's message spread across the entire world.

So when lugia blasted the Chinese Union's kyogre out of the water and mewtwo floated the jeep carrying Sawasaki and the Chinese representative, everyone watching them knew that nothing could stop those two when they joined forces.

They even broke into and conquered one of the strongest fortresses in Hoenn with absolute ease…

* * *

_\_ "The sudden attack on the Hoenn Region by the Anti-Government terrorist organisation was thwarted by Vicereine Cornelia's blitzkrieg attack, resulting in the capture of Sawasaki Atsushi and four other members of the former Japanese government, as well as more than half of the participating Chinese Union forces." _\_ the anchorwoman on the news reported the next day. _\_ "The Chinese Union's government maintains that the unsanctioned attack was initiated by General Tsao, who has been returned into their custody in accordance of the Treaty of Tibet." _\_

* * *

"Reporting for duty, your majesty." Suzaku told Princes Euphemia as he bowed.

"Welcome home, Suzaku." Euphie welcomed him, just as the awkward moment hit.

Euphemia smiled shyly. "Um..!" they both said at the same time, causing the princess to burst into a fit of giggles, which Suzaku reciprocated.

"Suzaku, I know now…" Euphemia told him. "That I don't want to be involved with such tricky matters such as justice or national policy." She looked down at the flowers beneath their feet. "I just want to see those I love smiling and happy…"

She offered Suzaku the Euphemia Badge that he'd returned to her the day before. "Will you help me in that regard?" She asked him.

He hesitated, then took the Badge from her. "Yes, your highness." Suzaku replied, fixing it to his uniform with pride.

* * *

Suzaku got a call on his pokégear on his way back to the student dorms from an anonymous number. "Hello?" He asked.

_\_ "_You owe me a favour for helping you back in Rustboro." __\_ Zero's voice told him from the other end.

Suzaku glared. "I thought we were helping each other for a common goal!"

_\_ "_I gave you some restorative items, did I not?"_ _\_ Zero pointed out. _\_ "_Besides, this is a simple request." __\_

Suzaku sighed. "What is it?" he asked.

_\_ _"You haven't delivered your official report of what happened on the island yet, have you?"_ _\_ Zero asked. _\_ _"I humbly request that you leave Kallen's name out of it."_ _\_

"Why should I lie to my government for a terrorist?" the restored knight snarled.

_\_ "_Euphemia gave you the opportunity for a soldier like yourself to attend school._" _\_ Zero pointed out. _\_ "_I was hoping that you would return the favour. Do not worry, when a Black Knight removes their uniform they return to being a normal citizen; the school will be a strict cease-fire zone." __\_

Suzaku gritted his teeth. He really had no place or reason to refuse this, except… "I've already told some people." Suzaku admitted.

_\_ "_If your concern is with Prince Schneizel, or Princess Euphemia, then rest assured that I've had my contacts speak with the prince, and the princess would not object to a girl being able to receive a proper education, would she?"_ _\_

Suzaku sighed. "Very well." He conceded. "If I am not asked directly on the matter, I will not bring it up, but that is all."

_\_ "_Thank you, my ally." __\_

"WE ARE NOT ALLIES!" Suzaku shouted into the pokégear as Zero hung up. He almost threw it into the floor, but took a deep breath and thought better of it.

* * *

On the other end of the call, Lelouch was laughing his head off. "Ah, Suzaku…" he sighed, before turning to Kallen. "There should be no problem for you then, once we dock in Vermillion."

"Thank goodness…" Rivalz sighed with relief. "Isn't that great, Kallen?"

"Uh, yeah…" Kallen nodded without any enthusiasm.

"Perhaps you wished to carry on working for the Black Knights full time?" Lelouch asked her probingly.

"Well, yeah actually." Kallen admitted. "School just seems… unimportant now."

"Kallen." Lelouch told her. "The reason I lead this double life is because the Order of the Black Knights lives on a very, very fine line between dominance and oblivion." He explained. "One wrong move or a single stroke of bad luck at a bad time, and everything we've worked for will be destroyed."

She glared at what he was suggesting. "So you're doing this so you can abandon ship when things turn bad and return to your cushy life?" she snarled.

"Not at all." Lelouch countered. "I am doing this so _if _things go bad, _if_ the worst does happen, I can wait and recover." He explained. "It's like using Rest in battle: I go to sleep for a few minutes when things are bad and wake up shortly after in peak condition."

"Ah, I get it." Rivalz nodded, moving his fist into his metal palm. "So if you screw up, you can just live like Lelouch for a while until things die down, and BAM!" he shouted, spreading his arms wide, accidentally back-handing the redhead. "Zero's back again, right and sorry Kallen…" He apologised, which the redhead ignored in favour of a swift strike to his kidneys.

"So, just another pragmatic back-up plan?" Kallen asked, nursing her cheek while Rivalz clutched his side.

"That's exactly it." Lelouch nodded, ignoring the scuffle. "This way, we get at least one chance at a rematch, and I want you to be available to me _if_ things go south. Which they won't!" Lelouch insisted. "Just saying. _If_ it does happen. Not when. _If._" He repeated.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Hehe, _If._ Silly Lelouch.

**Varanus:**_ You think he'd have learned by now._


	19. Auntie

Here we have a breather episode. Hooray!

Hands up if you like breathing!

[SamJaz found a wild SANDWICH]  
[SamJaz used EAT on wild SANDWICH]  
[It's super effective!]  
[Wild SANDWICH was defeated!]  
[SamJaz got 60 exp. Points!]  
[SamJaz grew to level 19!]  
[SamJaz wants to learn the move POOP, but can only learn four moves. Which move shall be forgotten?]  
[EAT, SLEEP, BREATHE, EPIC]  
[SamJaz forgot the move BREATHE. SamJaz learned POOP.]  
[SamJaz fainted from oxygen deprivation!]  
[SamJaz used POOP!]  
[It's not very effective…]

Aren't you glad I didn't delete the move EPIC?

And yes, I'm aware I stole it from VG Cats, but some people here might not read it, so they'll find it funny.

Anyhow, reviews. WakingDreamWorld, I dreamt up Jessica. I also dreamt up the sheer nightmare fuel that will be rammed down your faces on Tuesday and Thursday of next week, and you just scared the living daylights out of me.

Also, Patch, I WILL do that chapter of Investigation Team Yo! you asked me to do, just let me get this out of the way first.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_Situations change without regard for men's expectations. Time flows on, paying no heed to human concerns. So Lelouch is lucky indeed, for he has the power to sculpt the world to his liking, using his Geass, the power of Absolute Obedience, as his chisel._

_But no-one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end._

_And so it begins…_

* * *

"Recently, there have been a big commotion with Chinese invaders and the Black Knights, but that's a separate matter entirely." Ms. Attenborough told the small class one night. "Recently, you five have _not_ been meeting your minimum number of class hours!"

"Er, miss!" Rivalz asked, raising his metal right arm. "I was _kinda_ busy being an amputee and doing my rehab and everything? Plus Kallen's sick all the time, and Suzaku's with the army." He added, then tried to think of an excuse for Lelouch.

"Despite your medical requirements, irrespective of your status as Princess Euphemia's knight, and regardless of your perfect grades, the fact is that if you do not have enough class hours then you will all be expelled!"

"Aw, man…" Rivalz sighed. "Wait, what's Misty's excuse?"

"I'm a freakin' Gym Leader!" She shouted, snapping her pencil between her fingers. "Dammit…"

* * *

"Ah well, at least the school festival is soon…" Misty sighed when they left the classroom that morning.

"Heh, _you_ can say that." Rivalz groaned. "As for the rest of us, last night is probably the most peaceful one we'll get all week."

"Eh?" Suzaku asked, tearing his gaze from Kallen. "What do you mean?"

"He means that Milly's gonna work our asses off until the festival on Friday." Lelouch sighed. "Though I usually do three times the work he does."

"And I'm Milly's gopher." Rivalz pointed out. "So I'll be working like hell as it is." He groaned and stopped by the coffee machine. "Man Lulu, you're a freakin' machine…"

"Well, I'm looking forward to it." Misty told them. "My boyfriend's coming over-"

"AARRGGHH!"

"W-what?" Misty asked, backing off from the screaming Rivalz.

"All the good girls are getting snatched up!" Rivalz shouted. "Dammit! What's the point of this badass new look if I'm not GETTING ANY!"

"Man, you are pathetic." Misty sighed. "What about Shirley? I know her from the swimming club, but isn't she in student council too?"

"Nah, she's head over heels for Lulu, but then again, they haven't spoken for weeks…" Rivalz sighed and Lelouch lowered his head and walked past them. "Eh, Lulu?"

"I think she took the news of Lelouch's girlfriend pretty badly…" Kallen sighed, not bothering to act as tired as she felt.

"Eh?" Suzaku asked. "Lelouch has a girlfriend?"

Rivalz flinched at Kallen's mistake, but she recovered quickly. "Yeah, I've seen them together sometimes when I leave school early." She lied. "Older girl, looks pretty cold, but I think she likes him."

"Eeh… how come Lelouch hasn't told me?" Suzaku asked.

"Mate, I'm not sure Nunnally even knows." Rivalz whistled. "News to me at any rate."

"A-anyway, we've still got a few hours before first period, so I'm gonna catch _some_ sleep." Misty said, eager to get away from these nutters. "Later!"

"Yeah, yeah." Rivalz sighed, waving the gym leader off. "I need to go oil the arm, so no such luck for me."

"I'll probably just say I'm not feeling well." Kallen yawned. "I deserve some sleep."

Rivalz glared at her. "Lucky bitch." She muttered.

* * *

A few days and some sleepless nights later, it was the day of the festival.

_\_ "SORRY TO KEEP YOU WAITING EVERBODY!" _\_ Milly's voice shouted from the speakers. _\_ "I'M PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE START OF THE ASHFORD ACADEMY FESTIVAL! YOU MAY BEGIN AS SOON AS YOU HEAR THE SIGNAL!" _\_

_\_ "Um… are you sure?" _\_ Nunnally asked.

_\_ "It's fine!" _\_ Milly encouraged. You could almost hear her winking.

_\_ "Well then…" _\_ Nunnally said hesitantly. _\_ "Piikaaaa!" _\_

"Pika!" the pikachu on a young boy's shoulder shouted in response.

The boy smiled under the shadow of his cap. "Next year, huh?" he asked.

* * *

"So Sawasaki was of some use to us after all." Lelouch said into his pokénav on the roof. "Now our next objective is clear." He glanced over the parapet of the roof terrace he was standing on and frowned, spotting news telecasters milling about below.

_\_ "Yeah." _\_ Silver confirmed as Lelouch ducked under the fence to hide from the reporter's cameras. _\_ "The data for some of Hoenn's more profitable businesses. Also, while I remember, the ghetto's getting solar panels. They're discussing how the extra energy's gonna be distributed now, but the majority is going to some Elevener-run pokémon centres, which is good because I am _sick_ of those nurse Joy's." _\_ he shook his head. _\_ "Anyway, what news have you got from our underground contacts?" _\_

"I'll deal with it myself." Lelouch told him. "Anyways, I've got about ninety-two percent of the details sorted. How's Toudou?"

_\_ "He's still planning the capture of the radio tower." _\_ Silver replied. _\_ "Want me to send you the fake plans we're sending to Kyoto?" _\_

"Yeah, I'll look at 'em tomorrow." Lelouch replied.

_\_ "Diethard wrote a report for me to send you, so I'll strap them on too." _\_ he added. _\_ "Anyways, Ohgi took Squad Zero out to—" _\_

"WE'RE IN TROUBLE!" Milly shouted, running up to Lelouch. "WE'RE IN _BIIIG_ TROUBLE!"

"Gotta go, secret identity upkeep and whatnot." Lelouch muttered before hanging up. "Aren't we on schedule?" He asked, hitting Alt+F4 and swiveling the laptop on the floor.

"IT'S THE PIZZA!" She shouted, grabbing his arm and dragging him away. He barely had time to grab the machine and fold it closed as he was led down the steps. "We're having trouble with it."

"No wonder." Lelouch sighed. "We had problems making a two-metre pizza last year, and now you're trying for a twelve-metre?"

"Isn't it amazing?" Milly asked, problems forgotten. "When we're done, it'll be the biggest pizza ever. A PIZZA FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS LULU!"

Lelouch sighed. "It was an absolute bitch just building that massive oven and gathering the ingredients." He told her, then scowled, remembering the cameras. "And for the record, why did you call the news team? You know I can't be seen."

"We have to record the pizza." Milly pointed out. "Just stay in the booth, alright?" she asked with a smile as a pikachu ran up to Lelouch. "Chairman's orders!"

"Ah, man!" one cameraman shouted, opening his camera up to find the tape tangled up and belching black smoke. "This one too?"

"Dammit James, did you tangle the film on that camera too? That's the third time since we got here!" screeched the set manager, an intimidating woman who towered menacingly above the shrinking cameraman.

"B-but Jessie, I don't know what-!" spluttered the man, nearly in tears.

"Sorry mate!" a younger boy in a pokémon league cap shouted shouted at the crew, running up to Lelouch and Milly and grabbing his pikachu. "Hey, you two are the ones running this thing, right?" he asked.

"Yes, that's right!" Milly smiled, bending her knees slightly. "How can I help you?"

"I was gonna ask about this bigass pizza." He asked her. "Where's it gonna be?"

"In the bigass metal dome, you can't miss it." Lelouch told him, pointing to behind the school.

The young man tipped his hat at Lelouch. "Thanks mate." He agreed. "Let's go Pikachu."

"Nice kid." Milly smiled as the teenage boy walked in the direction Lelouch directed, before turning to her assistant. "Anyway, you heard me. Stay in the booth, and everything will be peachy-keen."

"Yeah, sure." Lelouch sighed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Suzaku was chopping onions in the kitchen, when he heard a familiar set of footsteps behind him. "I'm glad you were able to come back to school." Suzaku smiled, not even turning around to face her.

"Why did you follow Zero's orders like that?" Kallen asked warily.

"It's like he said." Suzaku shrugged, pulling up another onion and getting to work. "You're Kallen Stadtfield right now, not Kallen Kozuki."

She pocketed her purse-knife. "Still trying to draw me in with your phoney compassion?" she asked. "I'm not a ralts you know."

"That's just a misconception, they're only attracted to people who are enjoying themselves." Suzaku laughed. "But anyway, if we meet in battle, I won't go easy on you, but I'd still like to change your mind." He turned to face her. "I know it's against regulations, but I want to try and help you, at least while we're still at school."

"You're wrong in the head." Kallen told him as the door opened behind her.

"Suzaku, another truck just arrived, this one's full of cheese!" Lelouch told him as he entered, before turning to Kallen. "We need your help in one of the classrooms, can you go?"

"Uh, sure." Kallen nodded, heading off as Lelouch's pokénav rang.

It wasn't the one plugged into his ear.

"Damn, again?" Lelouch asked, leaving the room as the theatre club president nagged into his ear.

* * *

"Found it!" the boy with the pikachu called, running over to Misty. He grinned sheepishly at her. "Yeah, you were right, it's that bigass dome over there."

Misty stuck her tongue out at him. "Told ya so. That'll teach you to question me next time," she teased, breaking into a grin.

The kid's smile grew as he rolled his eyes- not that Misty could see due to the pulled down cap, "Ha, yeah, yeah. Anyway…" he stuck his arm out to the girl. "Shall we?"

"Hey!" a third voice shouted.

The boy and Misty turned to see the red-haired Whitney tackle him and plant her face into his. "H-hey!"

"Huh?" the Normal type gym leader asked the Water type gym leader. "Misty? What're you doing here?"

"Uh, I live here?" she asked, pulling Whitney from the boy. "What're you doing with him!"

"He's my boyfriend, what's it to you?" Whitney asked as the boy stood up and dusted himself off as the pikachu jumped onto his shoulder.

"What!" Misty shouted. "He's _MY_ boyfriend!"

The two girls opened their mouths, then slowly turned to the young man, who shrugged and smiled.

"So… threesome?" Whitney asked.

"What, like, right now?" Misty replied.

The young man groaned and walked away, slipping into the crowd before the two girls noticed.

That's when he finally spotted who he had been looking for.

* * *

'_Dammit…'_ Lelouch thought once he was outside and got five seconds quiet. _'I should be planning my coup d'état right now…'_

BONK

Lelouch looked up as a female soldier ran up to him. "Ah, sorry! The handle just broke!" she shouted, catching the rubber hammer that bounced off Lelouch's skull. "Oh, aren't you Suzaku's friend?"

'_It's that woman from his division'_ Leouch realized. "Um, yeah, I…"

"Oi, you." C.C. asked from behind Lelouch. "Where's this biggest pizza in the world- oh, it's you." She mumbled as Lelouch turned around and began pushing her away into the crowds.

"_What are you doing outside, today of all days!"_ Lelouch hissed.

"Perhaps I wasn't clear:" C.C. told him. "_Worlds. Largest. Pizza._"

He sighed. Sometimes the woman was so damned mysterious that he forgot about her obsession with cheesy dough. "Go back to the room, I'll bring you some later." He told her.

"I don't trust you, liar." C.C. told him as he opened up the door to a warehouse and shoved her in.

"We don't have any choice." He told her. "There are journalists and soldiers here, what if you get caught?"

"I want it fresh." She told him. "Bring me a disguise."

"Look, I'm stretched thin between the festival and the coup—" Lelouch stopped and turned to see Kallen leading Ohgi and a dark skinned woman- presumably his girlfriend, through the maze of shelved boxed.

"What're you doing in my school?" she asked them angrily.

"Oh, I…" the woman began

"Who are you?" Kallen interrupted. "You're not an Eleven, are you? What's your name?"

"Uh…" Ohgi began. "She's my…"

'_Dammit…'_ Lelouch thought angrily. _'Can this get any worse!'_

"Hey, if you don't mind, I'll take C.C. to see the giant pizza." The teenager from before offered Lelouch.

"That'd be a huge help, thank you." Lelouch nodded, stepping forward. "Kallen!" he shouted. "We don't need people snooping around in here!"

Then the door opened. "Ah, man, where's the fuel canister?" Shirley asked, looking around with Suzaku. "I'm sure it was around here somewhere… Kallen?"

"Uh… hi…" Kallen replied, stepping back from Ohgi and his lady friend.

"Have you seen our reserve fuel-tank anywhere?" Shirley asked, walking towards them as Lelouch was handed the fuel tank by the teenager, who put his fingers to his lips and led C.C. away. "Rivalz is looking for it."

"Here you go!" Lelouch said, popping out of the side with the canister.

"Oh, Lelouch, you're here too?" Shirley asked, taking it. "I'd like to have a word with you."

'_Hm?'_ Lelouch thought. "Sure, later." He told her, signalling for Kallen to lead Ohgi and the woman away. "I've got work to do. Kallen, please could you escort this couple back to the public area?" he ordered, leading Shirley and Suzaku back towards the entrance.

"Why not now?" Shirley moaned. "This is the only time I get to see you!"

"We're all busy, me especially." Lelouch sighed, pushing them outside. "Come on, back to work everybody!"

With everyone gone, Lelouch sighed in relief at a job well done- until he played back what had happened back there in his mind.

'_Wait…_' Lelouch realised._ 'Did I let that guy walk away with C.C.?'_

He twisted around in sheer anger at his own stupidity.

Then he paused, smacking his forehead with his palm. _'No, I'm assuming it was stupidity, but… no-one could be stupid enough to do that, least of all me… so why…?'_

Realisation came in a flash. '_That boy said C.C.…'_ Lelouch remembered._ 'He knew her__… could it be he possesses Geass__?'_

Lelouch snarled. "Dammit…" He hissed, sprinting towards the giant pizza.

* * *

"AND NOW, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO!" Rivalz roared with pride and power. "WE WILL BEGIN BAKING! THE LARGEST! PIZZA! IN THE! WOORLD!"

"You're using your Geass." C.C. told the teenage boy as Rivalz continued to work the crowd.

"Of course, I want this to go well." He replied. "Didn't you hear? Worlds. Largest. Pizza."

C.C. smiled to herself. "You haven't changed, have you?" She asked.

"Sure I have, Auntie." The boy chuckled. "It's just you're the only one my Geass won't work on."

* * *

Lelouch ran frantically through the crowd, trying to track down the familiar head of green hair, but he wasn't finding anything.

"AND NOW, THE STAR OF THE SHOW!" Rivalz shouted, throwing size pokéballs into the air to reveal six well-polished steelix. "Each one of these Steelix have been well trained for over twenty years, when they had only just been discovered!" he bragged. "And now Sir Suzaku Kururugi and myself shall guide them while making this behemoth of a pizza! There was going to be a third chef, but he's skiving somewhere so we're gonna pick up the slack and make him look very, very silly!"

"Lelouch!" Shirley shouted, grabbing him by the arm. "We really, really need to talk _Now!"_

"Not now dammit!" Lelouch snapped, scanning the crowd as they cheered for the steelix tossing the dough high into the air.

"No, Zero." Shirley told him, freezing him faster than her empoleon could. "Now."

* * *

The teenager stood up straight, a flash of red blinking briefly under his cap. "Hold on a sec auntie." He told C.C., meandering through the crowd. "My ariadosman senses are tingling."

* * *

Lelouch was buggered up an exeggutor by an angry slowbro. No better way to put it.

"W-what did you say?"

"I was going to talk to you about it, but for some reason I forgot." Shirley told him. "If it wasn't for the screwed up letter to you I found down my dresser, I doubt I would have ever remembered."

"Then…" Lelouch managed, before looking down. "Shirley… I'm sorry for what Mao did to you-"

"Mao?" Shirley asked. "Who's he?"

Then Lelouch's brain reacted to the new information. _'She doesn't remember a thing.'_ Lelouch realised. _'she just found the note and freaked out…'_

"Wait, are you talking about that guy who attacked you and forgot about it, or something else?" he lied. "Because there was this psycho who kidnapped and almost raped you if I didn't run him through with a lead pipe, but you forgot everything from the shock and we didn't want to remind you about the whole thing."

"Eh?" Shirley asked. "N-no, it's about you being Zero and paralysing my dad…"

"Why would I be Zero?" Lelouch asked her. "I understand that what he did to him was unforgivable, but me?" he asked her, turning away. "Don't be ridiculous…"

She grabbed his shoulder, spun him around and kissed him deeply. Pulling away, she looked into his eyes, tears building up in her own. "I remember that." she told him, tucking her face into his chest. "I remember that I loved you…"

"Shirley..?"

"So please…" She sobbed. "Just, tell me the truth…"

"Well, if… I was Zero…" Lelouch began. "What… would you do..?"

"I… I don't know…" Shirley sobbed. "I… Lelouch…"

'_She's not calling me Lulu.'_ Lelouch realised. _'She really doesn't remember a thing…'_

WHAM!

Lelouch was knocked down to the ground by the hat-clad teenager, who picked Lelouch up from the ground and carried him off full pelt, praying to his eyes for a stroke of good luck. Shirley stared at what happened in shock, but before she could take a step to chase them…

A reporter happened to turn her head to the side and pick out a familiar face in the crowd. "Hey, isn't that Princess Euphemia!"

'_YES!'_ both boys shouted in their mind as the crowd carried the ginger girl away. The cap-wearing teenager turned a corner and set Lelouch down, breathing a sigh of relief. "Whew. Close call there."

Then Lelouch slammed the young man to the ground, staring into both of his Geass's. "**Submit unto me and follow my orders!**" Lelouch ordered, his own Geass flaring with Lelouch's determination to nip this in the bud and turn this enemy into a weapon.

The boy brought his hand up into Lelouch's face and raised his middle finger between his eyes. "Nope." He told Lelouch, grinning manically.

"EVERYONE! MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!" Euphemia's voice rang out in the school grounds. Lelouch ignored his sister's voice, staring disbelievingly at the boy, who was suddenly frowning as if something had gone wrong.

"Wait… She couldn't be…" muttered the boy, his geass flaring intermittently.

"This is Area Eleven's Deputy Vicereine, Princess Euphemia!" She announced, standing atop a Steelix as the pizza cooked in the giant oven. "I have something I would like to tell all of you! I, Euphemia De Britannia, hereby declare the establishment of the Special Administrative Zone of Japan in the Shinjo region!"

"WHAT!" Both Lelouch and the teenager shouted, turning to Euphie in shock and rage.

'_Dammit!'_ Lelouch screamed inside his head. _'Even giving us a region to ourselves, that's nothing if it destroys our reason to fight!'_

"Within this special district of Japan, the Elevens will return to their true name of Japanese!" Euphie continued. "All restrictions to Elevens and all special Britannian privileges will be annulled within this area! Britannian's and Elevens will live as equals!"

'_Stop this Euphie…'_ Lelouch growled within his skull, slowly getting to his feet. _'I'd already thought of this…'_

"It's just a dream, it'll never work…" the teenager muttered, standing next to Lelouch.

"CAN YOU HERE ME, ZERO!" Euphie shouted. "If you can, then I want you to know that we don't care about your past and identity, so please! Be a part of the new Japan! Join me, and create a new future from within Britannia!"

"LONG LIVE EUPHEMIA!" the crowd roared.

'_I'm done for…'_ Lelouch thought. _'No matter which side I choose, the Black Knights are history… I've lost my life's pursuit- how could this happen so easily!'_

'_So that's how you plan to take all I have… my sanctuary included!'_ Lelouch realised with anger. _'If so, then you are truly blind and deaf. I am a masked terrorist, and you… No, it will NEVER be the same… EUPHEMIA!' _

* * *

_The Special Administrative Zone of Japan._

_If we co-operate, we'll have to lay down our arms. _

_If we oppose it, then we'll lose the support of the people._

_The Order of the Black Knights cannot survive this._

_Euphemia, you stupid, simple princess with your misguided ideals will… _

_Your very existence is a crime against me._

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

First off, I'd like to announce how much I love writing Rivalz's character.

Thiiii-iii-iiiiiii-iiii-iiis much! He's like writing Pharos! Always crackin' me up!

Secondly, there are zero amount of OC's in this story. Seriously, I cannot stress the lack of OC's in this story. Anyone who is an OC will be a one-off character with five lines or so at most.

So a smart person could probably work out who this young man with the Geass is. We have a concept art for him, if that'd help.

_**Varanus:** Hell, this guy has already been mentioned pretty early on, now that I think about it. But honestly, I'd be shocked if you couldn't at least guess by now who it was_._ Seriously._

Hell, I mentioned him in the first chapter. How's THAT for planning ahead?_  
_


	20. Bloody Euphie

Alright everyone, since this is both the twentieth chapter and an important one, it's gonna be another double chapter!

Tomorrow gets the same deal, so let's get cracking!

First, reviews. Patch, thanks for the heads up, it's been fixed.

Deviate Fish, the reason everyone makes life harder for Lelouch is because Lelouch does best when life sucks for him. Of course, I also cut him some breaks, as you've seen, and these only get more and more frequent, both the increased difficulty and the breaks, as time goes on.

Ryder, Euphies fate is explained in depth in this chapter.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"More than 200,000 have already applied for citizenship of the Special Administrative Zone of Japan, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing." Suzaku said with a smile, looking down on the huge cues of Eleveners wishing to regain their rights.

"And it's all thanks to you." Euphemia told him.

"What?" Suzaku asked.

"The people trust our endeavour because they have you to represent their Japanese interests." The princess explained.

"No, it's because you announced this yourself." Suzaku told her bashfully. "I'm truly grateful to you."

"As I am to you." She replied. "I hope you can continue to help me like this."

"Yes," Suzaku saluted, "Your high… right." He stopped himself, smiling.

* * *

"The situation is grim." Toudou explained in the mobile base. "More and more, some even from our own ranks, are applying for citizenship within the SAZ."

"Because there's no risk in there." Silver replied with anger. "Completely different to joining the Black Knights, where you could get killed at any second." He clenched his fist. "Damned weak cowards…"

"Besides, when you compare a beloved princess to an anonymous rebel shrouded in secrecy," Rakshad added, "The princess will obviously win."

"I hear the Kyoto group is supporting them too." Minami told everyone.

"What the hell?" Tamaki shouted. ""You'd think that without Team Rocket acting as their personal army, they wouldn't turn against us like this!"

"Well, they're promising equality." Sugiyama pointed out.

"But we can't take their word for it!" Kallen reminded everyone angrily.

"You're absolutely right." Shogo nodded. "But we've gotta figure out how to deal with this, and fast."

"Say…" Ohgi suggested hesitantly. "I don't suppose that we can just do as Euphemia says and sign up the Black Knights en masse, can we?"

"We can't trust the Britannians!" Tamaki groaned.

"Signing up for the SAZ isn't necessarily against Zero's orders." Ohgi argued.

"But we'd still have to surrender our weapons and legendaries." Blue told everyone.

"Well, that _would_ be a problem." Rakshad sighed, tipping ash from her long pipe.

"We'd be absorbed by the system and lose our independence." Toudou added.

"But if we don't participate, then we'll become enemies of peace and equality." Diethard told everyone. "It's a perfect trap."

"Then we should just participate!" Ohgi argued.

"But we've no proof that this is legit, or if the princess is just being used as bait to lure us into a trap." Rivalz sighed.

"But we can't just ignore it!" Ohgi pressed on.

* * *

"IMPUDENT CAD!"

Lelouch looked down the street to see a Britannian gentleman beating an Eleven student with his cane. "Equality? I'LL NEVER ACCEPT IT!"

"It must feel good to look down on others like you do." Lelouch said to him, walking towards the gentleman menacingly.

"Oi, that's enough." His bodyguard intervened.

"**Don't you think you should be headed home?**" Lelouch asked, Geass ablaze.

"Yeah, you're probably right." The huge man nodded, turning and walking down the street.

"Hey, wait!" the gentleman shouted after his guard.

"You mistook a hired hand's strength for your own." Lelouch told him. "How pathetic.**You should just go off and die—**Ngh!" he closed his Geassed eye as it was hit by a spasm of pain.

"Oh, think you're 'hot sizzle', do you?" the gentleman asked, swaggering up to Lelouch. "Do you?"

"**Get Lost.**" Lelouch ordered, this time Geassing him successfully before kneeling down and helping gather the Eleveners papers. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah…" the younger boy nodded, getting up to his knees and gathering the documents himself. "Thanks."

"No need." Lelouch smiled. "Since Euphemia's telling us it's okay, I'm allowed to start intervening in situations like this." He handed the boy his papers and stood up. "It's a load of guilt off my chest."

'_Now, where's Shirley?'_ Lelouch asked himself, scanning the area. _'She told me to meet her here, but…'_

He didn't spot her on the bridge nearby, slinking away from him with her mind racked with indecision.

* * *

He was scowling all the way home, but set his face into a smile when he returned to the living room. "I'm home!" Lelouch declared. "Shirley never showed up, so I might end up going again at some point if we reschedule."

"Maybe she wants to get back together with you, but she's shy about it?" Nunnally asked. "You two haven't been on good terms lately."

'_I wish.'_ Lelouch thought, remembering the festival. "We'll see what happens, I suppose," He told Nunnally, taking his jacket off and hanging it over the back of a chair. "Sayako, please would you make us some tea?"

"Yes, as you wish." She bowed, setting her leather-bound book on the table and heading into the kitchen.

"Are you worried about something?" Nunnally asked her brother as the maid left. "Euphie, maybe?"

"Ah, you spoke with her during the festival, didn't you?" Lelouch remembered.

"I don't want to insist on seeing her again," Nunnally continued, "I don't want to cause Euphie and you any trouble…"

Lelouch sat on a chair. "Do you like Euphie?" he asked his sister.

"Yeah." Nunnally nodded. "You do too, don't you?"

"Yeah…" Lelouch replied absently. _'I did…'_

* * *

_\_ "We're here live at the new Shinjo Stadium for the dedication ceremony of the Special Administrative Zone of Japan." _\_ the news reporter told the camera. _\_ "Many Elevens, no, correction, Japanese, have gathered and are spilling out from the ghettos for this historic event." _\_

The stadium was packed full of Brittanians and Japanese alike, chattering excitedly amongst each other. Of the relatively few Brittanians present, it was mostly students who were eagerly speaking to the Japanese, quick to jump at the opportunity to show them that Euphie's feelings were mirrored in many of their hearts. Older Brittanians present sat somewhat awkwardly at first, unsure of how to act in a world not defined by discrimination, but that faded quickly once many of the elder Japanese produced their bottles of sake they had smuggled in to celebrate the occasion. As usual, alcohol began to bridge the gap between these once hostile races. Women rolled their eyes and smiled as their husbands began having drinking games with their neighbors, and children were running between the stands, laughing.

One pair of Japanese children were running in circles around a teenager with a pikachu on his shoulder, chattering excitedly at the pokémon. "I'm so sorry about them…" their mother apologized. The teenager just forced a grin and shook his head.

Of course, everyone was waiting for the guest of honour to show up, but as the time hit eleven O'clock, there was no sign of Zero. Euphemia felt her spirits wilt somewhat as she realized her brother was not going to share the day with her. _'I suppose it's to be expected… he has so much anger for Brittania after all. I only wish…'  
_

"Princess Euphemia." Dalton whispered into the princess's ear, snapping her from her thoughts. "It's time."

She nodded, and stood to her feet, walking towards the podium.

"LUUUGIAH!"

Everyone went silent and looked into the sky, to see Zero riding towards the stadium in the pokémon beast of storms. The wind picked up as Zero's lugia swooped above the audience, causing the entire crowd to burst into deafening cheers. Behind him, two crobats with masked riders tailed him as his entourage.

"You came!" Euphie gasped with a smile.

'_He came…'_ frowned the teenager with the pikachu.

"So you admit defeat." Dalton smirked.

"Welcome Zero!" Euphemia shouted as he moved in to land. "Welcome to the Special Administration Zone of Japan!"

"_Princess Euphemia Di Britannia!"_ Zero shouted, his lugia hovering before the princess. "_I am glad to be here. One request though- before the ceremony begins,_ _I wish to have a word with you once I dismount."_

"With me?" she asked.

"_Yes, with you, and alone."_ He repeated as he landed, returning his lugia to its master ball. "_May we go somewhere in private?"_

"Hold it!" a guard shouted, holding out a tray and a metal detector. "Hand in your pokéballs first!"

"_May I at least leave them with someone I trust?"_ Zero asked as the masked Silver landed beside him, dismounting from his crobat.

Dalton scowled and looked worriedly to the princess.

"It's alright." Euphemia nodded as Zero handed his pokéballs over to the red-haired young man.

Zero spread his arms so the metal detector could scan his body while Silver handed the pokéballs to the masked woman who flew in with them.

"Nothing especially suspicious." The guard declared. Silver smirked under his mask as he detected a hint of annoyance in the guard's voice.

"Well then, right this way." Euphie invited, gesturing to the doorway behind her.

"Princess Euphemia." Suzaku intervened. "I believe that it would be dangerous for you to be alone with him. At least allow me to accompany you."

"It'll be alright." Euphie smiled at him. "Believe in me."

* * *

'_This cannot go to plan. This WILL not go to plan. I will not ALLOW it to go to plan.'_

* * *

"You're being awfully cautious." Euphie told him as the lights died in the office. "I've even had all the camera's turned off."

"_I've had to hide all my life."_ Lelouch told her, removing his mask. "Thanks to a certain empire." Placing his mask on the desk beside them, he reached back into the folds of his cape.

"I'm fortunate that you declined to use a millimeter-wave scanner. The metal detectors would detect pokéballs and steel, but nothing like this," he said, then pulled out dusted white blade, about a foot long including the handle. "It's made of hardened zirconia- harder and sharper than steel. Quite lethal, I assure you."

"Lelouch. You aren't going to stab me." Euphie stated sternly. She eyed the dagger warily nonetheless- it had a cresselia engraved on the side. A dagger made especially for her, then.

"Correct." Lelouch told her, flipping the ceramic blade and catching it deftly in his palm, holding the handle to her. "You'll be the one doing the stabbing, Euphie."

* * *

"Are you sure she'll be alright in there with him?" one guard asked another.

"She has her panic button, so it should be okay."

Something then clicked in Suzaku's mind, and he twisted around to see the masked woman standing with Silver.

'_So he can see me.'_ C.C. realised. _'Is it because of my invasion of his mind and what happened on Mirage Island? Or… could it be…?'_

* * *

'_Please let something go wrong. This cannot happen. THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN!'_

* * *

"This ceremony will be broadcast throughout the entire world." Lelouch explained to Euphemia. "If you, a Britannian princess, stabbed Zero now, what do you think would happen?"

"The ceremony would devolve into a riot." Euphie answered.

"Yeah." Lelouch nodded. "And if it turned out that you murdered him in cold blood, Zero becomes a Martyr, and your popularity will evaporate."

"What're you saying?" Euphie asked. "We're going to rebuild Japan toge—"

"You think people delight in serving you." Lelouch interrupted. "Just. Like. Clovis." She gasped. "Everything is perfectly clear now. Zero will die, then be miraculously reborn." He smiled. "People will love him for it." He said. "Because people are susceptible to miracles, not logic, see? Now, take it." He told her, holding the dagger out.

"Huh?"

"There can only be one messiah." Lelouch stated. "When they see that you're a fake, they will—Ngh!" he grunted, grabbing his right eye and dropping the stake.

* * *

"I-it is you…" Suzaku gasped as C.C. removed her helmet and approached him.

"Answer me this." C.C. told him. "Are you-Ngh!" she grunted, closing her right eye in pain.

"No…" she gasped, falling to her knees, the Geass symbol on her forehead blazing. "No, not now…"

"Hey, are you alright?" Suzaku shouted, running up to her and grabbing her shoulders.

He immediately regretted it, and was forced into her memories.

Her subconscious immediately lashed out at him, pouring hundreds of years of pain and despair onto his psyche.

It was too much for him.

He fainted.

"Major Kururugi!" one guard shouted, grabbing C.C. by the shoulder and pointing a gun at the back of her head.

All three guards entered her mind, and met the same fate.

* * *

'_Alright, good, but not enough. Make this not happen… MAKE THIS NOT HAPPEN!'_

* * *

"Lelouch!" Euphie shouted, running up to her brother.

"Stop it!" he snarled, pushing her from him and rising to his feet as she fell to the ground. "Don't you DARE cast your pity upon ME! I DON'T NEED CHARITY! I will make this happen on my own… to that end, I need you to be my Pilate, Euphemia Di Britannia!"

"I Have Relinquished That Name!" Euphie shouted, standing to her feet. Lelouch took a step back, surprised by her outburst, and she glared at him before continuing. "I expect the mainland to announce it shortly, but I have given up my right to succeed the throne."

"W-why..?" Lelouch asked in shock. "Is it because you accepted Zero into your heart?"

"I made you participate in my little endeavour, so I thought you might expect something in return." The princess told him.

"You gave it up so easily…" Lelouch managed. "Did you do it for me?"

She giggled. "You're so self-centred as always." She joked. "I did it for Nunnally."

Lelouch stepped back in shock. "She told me that if she could be with her older brother, then that would be fine." Euphie continued.

"That's why..?"

"That's what made up my mind." She told her brother with a smile. "I asked myself what was really important in this world. Lelouch, I haven't given up a single thing that I truly treasure. Don't worry, I haven't told anyone about you."

Lelouch laughed.

He laughed with sadness, with sorrow, with the sheer absurdity of it all.

He laughed like a broken madman who had seen the light.

"You just toss aside your title, just like that? AND CORNELIA! You'll just leave her?" he shouted, at once both frantic and amused.

"Well, it's not like I'll never see her." Euphie shrugged.

"You're such an idiot." Lelouch told her, calming down. "A total moron."

"Well, I never managed to beat you in school or in a pokémon battle, but…"

"Whatever." Lelouch sighed. "It's not the way I envisioned, but I'm getting what I set out to get." He turned to her. "When I think about it, you were Euphie long before you were the Deputy-Vicereine or the Third Princess."

"If I'm just the regular old Euphie, will you help me?" she asked, holding out her hand for Lelouch to shake.

He hesitated.

Then…

"You were my most worthy opponent." Lelouch told her, before taking her hand. "You win."

* * *

'_I defy this plan to succeed. I defy this rebellion to end.'_

* * *

"We'll work out a way to make the SAZ of yours succeed." Lelouch told Euphie, who smiled in delight. "And no, I won't be your subordinate."

"Of course not!" Euphie shouted happily. "You really don't trust me, do you?"

"Hm?" Lelouch asked.

"Did you really think that I'd kill you if you threatened me, Lelouch?" she asked

"No, I didn't." Lelouch told her with a smile. "I have a special power, you see. I can give someone an order and I really want them to do it, then they won't be able to disobey me." He explained. "Kill me, fire Suzaku, eat a raw poliwag, I could order you to do anything really."

"You're such a joker." Euphie laughed.

"I'm serious." Lelouch told her.

* * *

'_**I DEFY THIS TO HAPPEN!**_'

* * *

"Even if I was to tell you to, say, **Kill all the Japanese, you would have no choice, and would—**"

"N-no!" Euphie gasped, stepping back from her brother in terror. "No… I..!" she gripped her shoulders. "No, I DON'T WANT TO KILL!" she screamed, falling to her knees. "NOO!"

'_N-no…'_ Lelouch gasped, realising what had just happened.

_His Geass had activated on its own._

_He couldn't shut it off…_

"That's right…" Euphie realised, getting up. "I have to kill all the Japanese…"

"**FORGET THAT ORDER!**" Lelouch shouted as Euphie grabbed the white ceramic blade and fled the room. "**EUPHIE!**"

* * *

'_Yes… it's something's going my way…'_

* * *

"ALL THOSE WHO CALL THEMSELVES JAPANESE!" Euphemia shouted, running out to the stands. "I HAVE A FAVOUR TO ASK OF YOU! WOULD YOU MIND DYING!"

* * *

'_Wait, what!'_

* * *

"Umm, I suppose I could ask you all to jump off a cliff, but I guess that that's not a possibility, huh?"

* * *

'_Shit.'_

The teenager grabbed the two children on either side and ran like hell. "MY BABY!" their mother shouted, and he ran, faster and faster to get these children out of the bloodbath that this stadium was about to become.

* * *

"SOLDIERS!" Euphemia shouted. "KILL THEM ALL! MAKE A MASSACRE OUT OF IT!"

"CUT THE MIC'S AND CAMERA'S!" Dalton shouted, as Zero ran onto the scene.

"_**STOP THIS EUPHIE!**_" He shouted, only to be blocked off by two scizor-riding knights. "_**MOVE!**_"

"Not a chance, damned terrorist!" one shouted, forcing Zero back with the back of the blades.

"_**Dammit…**_" he growled, opening the slot for his Geass. "**GET OUT OF MY WAY!**"

"GURK!"

* * *

The world grew silent and still as Euphemia threw the dagger with remarkable accuracy. It spun in the air, catching everyone's eye as it flew and sunk into the throat of an Eleven man sitting in the front row.

The only sound or movement anyone made was the teenage boy, running to get those children out of there safely, tears building up from his purple eyes.

Then came the screams.

* * *

"Now, soldiers, if you would be so kind!" Euphemia shouted.

"PRINCESS EUPHEMIA!" Dalton roared as the princess walked over to one of the guards and took a spear. "What happened to you! Stop this, please!"

She ran him through with the blade of the spear, his blood splattering over her face and white dress. "I'm sorry." She apologised sincerely, tugging it out. "But I have to kill all the Japanese. WELL THEN, BRITANNIANS!"

"YES!" they shouted, drawing their guns and releasing their pokémon. "YOUR MAJESTY!"

The worst part?

The elevens had to hand in their pokémon at the gate to prevent any assassination attempts.

It was murder.

All of it.

* * *

Suzaku woke to the screaming, and found himself trapped in the nightmare Euphie's dream had become.

"Why are soldiers- STOP THIS!" he screamed into his pokégear. "This is Suzaku Kururugi, Euphemia's knight! I ORDER YOU TO STOP!"

_\_ "We were ordered to do this by the princess herself." _\_ came the reply. _\_ "Come to think of it, you're Japanese too…" _\_

The soldiers around him turned and leveled their rifles at him…

…before being blasted into the concrete by a thick wave of green energy. Suzaku looked up into the sky to see the only welcome thing in amidst the horror.

"LANCELOT!"

* * *

"_**STOP THIS EUPHIE!**_" Zero pleaded, running through the bodies towards her. "_**THIS IS MADNESS!**_"

"MADNESS!" She shouted, firing her gun over and over again as her cresselia sliced down survivors. "THIS! IS! BRITANNIA!"

'_Did my Geass do this?'_ Lelouch asked, too horrified to move at the sight of his ind-hearted sister slagutering innocent people. _'Did my geass turn her into… into this?'_

"Z-Zero…" the dying woman asked, grabbing his leg. "Saviour of Japan… help us…"

"_**Stop it…**_" he told her in shock. "_**I'm no saviour… I'm no messiah!**_"

"You are our only hope…" she begged with her last breath, falling to the ground.

"_**Stop it…**_" he begged as soldiers tore around the stadium and children cried. "_**Don't… ask me to save you..! You want me to atone? To fight for your freedom? I…**_"

"Zero…" the dying Dalton managed, blocking Lelouch's path through the corridor. "What… did you do to Princess Euphemia..?"

"_**Andreas Dalton…**_" Lelouch said. "_**You were the innermost man in Cornelia's inner circle…**_" He looked down at the wound pouring blood out of his chest, between the ribs, under the heart. If he didn't get medical attention soon… but then, in this chaos, chances of medics finding him in time were low…

"_**Rest in peace,"**_ Lelouch said, the slot on his helmet opening to deliver the order. He pushed past Dalton and ran to C.C. who was waiting for him with lugia.

"Silver already escaped on his crobat after giving me your pokémon." She told him as they flew into the sky, handing the balls to him. "You mentioned this as a possible course of action, but I'm surprised that you'd go this far."

"**It wasn't me.**" Lelouch replied, taking off his mask. "**I didn't use the Geass on her. No, I didn't mean to.**"

'_I see…'_ C.C. thought, staring into his crested eye while Lelouch stared into the distance, lost. _'So that was it after all…'_

"**I knew when I contracted with you that this power was dangerous…**" Lelouch told her. "**But, even so!**"

* * *

The teenager ran through the cross-fire, working with his pokémon to get as many people out of that hell as he could. A handful of Brittanian students noticed what he was doing and followed his lead, breaking into the abandoned security room and taking back their pokémon to help with the evacuation.

A few attacked the soldiers to interrupt their assault, while others ordered their pokemon to use smokescreens and hazes to give cover to the terrified Elevens. The soldiers ignored them, focusing on hunting down the Japanese.

All the while, the teenager with the burning purple eyes ran to save as many as possible. None of the soldiers thought twice about stopping him, many even forgetting him altogether.

* * *

In a place outside of time and space, the Emperor of Britannia laughed.

"HE REALLY DID IT!" He shouted with pride and delight. "MY SON'S! I AM SO PROUD TO CALL MYSELF YOUR FATHER!"

* * *

"This isn't her." Suzaku told Lancelot as he descended and flew threw the air with his master. "This isn't Euphie. It can't be. We need to find her at all costs and _stop this madness!_"

* * *

"Hey, there are Britannian soldiers outside the stadium!" C.C. shouted at Lelouch.

"**Yeah…**" Lelouch nodded, replacing his mask. "_**We've no choice but to use this horrible mistake to its fullest. We have to…**_"

"_**LUGIA!**_" Zero shouted. "_**AEROBLAST!**_"

The pokémon opened its jaw and launched a compressed tornado at the targets Lelouch's mind picked out. The column of air shattered the assembly, and lugia turned its maw, dragging the tornado in a line to sweep up every last troop, obliterating the Britannian soldiers before they killed anyone. "_**Attention Black Knights!**_" Zero shouted, his voice transmitting over every radio the Black Knights possesed. "_**Euphemia is our enemy! The SAZ was a cruel trap to lure us out! Special Pokémon Combat Division! ATTACK THE GRAND STADIUM! Destroy the Britannian soldiers and SAVE THE JAPANESE!**_"

'_I have to find Euphie…'_ Lelouch thought to himself, crying. _'And Kill her!'_

Lugia sensed Lelouch's desires and screeched, prepared for the mournful hunt.

* * *

Ho-oh blazed into the sky, unleashing sacred-fire upon the Britannian soldiers below.

The Black Knights all burst from their hiding places in the forest, ambushing the soldiers who were attacking the Elevener citizens.

"WHERE!" Suzaku shouted in the confusion, flying with Lancelot. "WHERE IS EUPHIE!"

Lancelot blocked the flurry of pokémon attacks rising up at them. "Stop… I don't have TIME TO MESS WITH YOU!" he shouted, launching fire down at them with his own hands.

* * *

"This is unforgivable…" Ohgi snarled as he rode in on his feraligatr. "How dare you crush what little hope we have, EUPHEMIA!"

* * *

"STOP THIS!" Kallen shouted, her ho-oh launching fire upon Euphemia.

Her cresselia blocked the velvet flames with her shields. "Are you attacking me?" the princess asked. "How rude of you! I'm the Third Princess of Britannia!"

"I know who you are, you MONSTER!" Kallen yelled, ho-oh diving forward to get a better angle of attack.

"Oh, you were the one from the island." Euphemia realised, climbing atop her cresselia and rising to the height of Kallen's ho-oh. "I recognise you. You're Japanese, I take it?"

"Yeah, and I'll avenge my brethren." Kallen snarled.

"_**Wait.**_" Zero ordered from above, descending on his glowing lugia. "**I**_** will take care of her.**_"

The beast flashed forward, slicing the crescent dragon to pieces with a Sky Attack, and Euphemia fell to the ground amongst the cloud of blood and flesh.

"What do you want to do with her, Zero?" Kallen asked. "Shall we take her alive?"

"_**That would be useless, I'm afraid.**_" Lelouch told her as Euphemia crawled out from her pokémon's remains. Kallen's eyes grew hard, and she nodded viciously in understanding.

"Massacre…" Euphemia gasped, searching for a weapon. "I need to slaughter all the Japanese…"

She picked up a rifle and began taking pot-shots at Zero and Kallen, but the bullets bounced harmlessly off their pokémon's chests.

"Why?" she asked, her gun running out of ammo. "I have to… I have to…"

Zero descended from lugia's back as Euphie picked up an ammo clip and began forcing it into the gun. "Um… I think… I think… uh…"

Click

Euphemia smiled as the bullets slotted into her rifle, but her face fell as she saw Zero approach her. "Oh, I thought you were a Japanese." She laughed sheepishly as Zero grew closer. "I was thinking, why don't we announce the SAZ of Japan together? Hmm?" She asked herself in confusion. "Japan?"

"_**Yes.**_" Zero told her, drawing his sword as he walked past her. "_**I would have liked to do so… together**__**.**_" He turned on his heel and brought the sword up, poised to stab his sister through her heart.

"THERE SHE IS! SAUR, NOW!"

wo thick, brown vines shot out and slammed Euphemia away from Lelouch's attack and into the wall as the capped teenager rushed forward and slammed his elbow into her right arm, shattering it.

"AAGH!" she screamed, but the boy ignored her and grabbed her other arm with both hands and slammed it against his kneecap. "AARGGH!" she screamed again. "Why…" she sobbed in pain and despair. "I have to kill…"

"I know. I'm sorry," The boy told her apologetically. "VEE! NOW!"

An eevee leapt forwards and morphed into an espeon, landing on the boy's head. Euphie looked at it for a moment with confused, tear-filled eyes, and it took the opportunity to use hypnosis on the bloodstained princess.

She fell asleep just as Suzaku landed with Lancelot and charged at the teenager with his sword. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Kallen and her ho-oh dived to intercept him, but they were held off by the boy's pikachu, forcing them back with warning bolts of electricity that managed to singe the bird of morning's feathers.

Lelouch instinctively rushed in and blocked Suzaku's blade as the teenager in the hat picked up Euphie. Her broken arms tied firmly into splints, he carried her to Suzaku. "Take her to the Rayquaza base." He ordered the boy, handing her limp body over. "She is to be imprisoned and kept away from any and all Japanese, and she needs to think that every last one is dead. Especially you."

"Euphie!" Suzaku shouted, pushing Zero aside and snatching the sleeping princess. Staring at her in relief and shock, it took a moment for the teenager's words to fully sink in, but when they did he shot the boy a seething look. "Imprisoned? Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Grandmaster Red." The young man snapped. "The Knight Of One, and this is an order from me, your military superior.**Understand, boy****?****!**"

Suzaku stepped back in sheer obedience and instinct. "Y-yessir!" he bowed awkwardly, carrying Euphemia to Lancelot as the mewtwo flew them all to the flying base built around the great sky serpent.

Lelouch then turned to the boy. "_**Who are you**__**?**__**!**_" he demanded.

"I just told that guy." Red replied.

"_**Why the hell do you have the Geass**__**?**__**!**_"

"If you knew that, then you would've stopped me at the festival." Red chuckled bitterly. "But, that's irrelevant now." He turned away and left. "Say hi to auntie C.C. for me, and you best prepare for a scrap."

Lelouch didn't try to stop him from leaving.

He couldn't.

It was all he could manage to even be angry at him.

_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Silver shouted over the communication line. _\_ "We've taken the SAZ- I mean, Shinjo." _\_ he reported. _\_ "You'd best get here quick, because everyone's howling for blood." _\_

Lelouch looked up at Kallen who had swooped down to make sure he was unharmed. _**"Let's go. Now is the time to preserve the living."**_

* * *

"EQUALITY!" Tamaki shouted as he beat the ever loving daylights out of the noble he'd found. "DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT! HOW FREAKIN' _DARE_ YOU TRAP US LIKE THAT! I'LL BLOODY KILL YOU DAMMIT! YOU ARE _NOT_ GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!"

* * *

In the aftermath of the massacre, there was silence, of a sort. A stunned, shell-shocked hush had fallen onto the survivors as they stared dumbly at what remained.

Parents and children sobbed over the bodies of their families.

Lovers held each other in tight embraces, not willing to let go lest their survival be revealed as an illusion.

Bodies began to be moved into lines, men and women working together without a shared word.

A few people brought blankets to wrap around the most traumatized victims, medics rushed in to deliver first aid, and the few Brittanian Black Knight members and civilians present set up table to make coffee at, to serve to the wary but grateful survivors.

This mournful reverie was broken by a single word.

"ZERO!"

Lugia descended beside ho-oh, and the crowd standing inside the bloody stadium roared in triumphant joy to see their saviour among them.

To Lelouch's ears, it sounded like a choir of spiritomb welcoming him to hell.

"We meet at last, Zero!" the young girl before him shouted amongst the bodies.

'_Isn't this girl one of Suzaku's relatives?'_ he asked himself.

"Zero, will you continue to follow us?" the old man behind her asked. Lelouch recognized them as the executives of Kyoto, and scowled at their brazen attempt to act superior to him.

"_**Follow you! NOT A CHANCE IN HELL!**_" He shouted. "_**I expect Kyoto to follow **_**ME**_** from now on! You have no choice. There is no other way that you will survive this night otherwise.**_"

* * *

"How is she?" Suzaku asked the surgeons as they left the operating theatre.

"She's stable, but you are forbidden from seeing her." The surgeon explained.

"Why!" Suzaku shouted. "I'M HER DAMNED KNIGHT!"

"You're Japanese." He explained apologetically. "She needs to rest, and we only just got her to stop screaming for their deaths."

"What the…?" Suzaku gasped. "What happened to her?"

"The CAT scan showed some brain damage." The doctor explained. "We believe that is the cause of her sudden shift in behavior, but we cannot identify the source."

Suzaku clenched his fists and glared at the ground. "Zero…" he snarled.

* * *

"_**CITIZENS OF JAPAN!**_" Zero declared to the cheering survivors, who were maddened with relief at surviving the ordeal and from the trauma of moving the bodies. "_**Your nation has been oppressed by Britannia for TOO LONG!**_"

"_**LONG HAVE I WAITED!**_" He cried. "_**For Britannia to correct itself, to see the error of its ways, but our hopes for such change have been shattered! DESTROYED ALONG WITH THE LIVES OF THOSE WHO DIED THIS DAY!**_"

"DAMN EUPHEMIA!" the crowd cheered. "LIAR!" "WITCH!"

"_**YES!**_" Zero shouted. "_**Euphemia is a symbol of Britannia's hypocrisy! They're nothing but murderers masquerading as a true nation!**_"

"GO TO HELL, EUPHEMIA!" "WE WON'T FALL FOR YOU BULLSHIT AGAIN!" "DEATH TO BRITANNIA!"

"_**I hereby declare our independence from Britannia!**_" Zero continued. "_**HOWEVER! We would be FOOLS to simply re-establish the old Japan, paying no heed to the lessons of the past! The new Japan we shall create this day shall be a nation of acceptance! One which shall welcome all those who seek its refuge, regardless of race, creed, or doctrine! A nation where the strong shall NEVER reign over the weak!**_"

"_**AND ITS NAME SHALL BE!**_" He roared, spreading his arms apart. "_**THE UNITED STATES! OF! JAPAN!**_

"ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO!"

* * *

"Are you going to storm the Kanto Region now?" C.C. asked Lelouch as he stepped into their room.

"**Yes.**" He told her, removing his helmet and shaking his hair. "**Now is our best chance—**" he caught himself before he looked into her eyes and turned his gaze away from her.

"It's alright." She told him, stroking Jiro. "Your Geass doesn't work on me. You know that."

Lelouch looked her in the eye. "**You're right.**" He told her, lowering the cloth covering the lower part of his face. "**Thank you. I suppose that since I can no longer control my Geass, I can't see my friends anymore.**"

His pokénav rang, and he paused when he saw the caller id. "**Nunnally? ****What's the matter?**" he asked, answering it.

_\_ "Nothings the matter, it's just… Brother?" _\_ she asked. _\_ "I want to talk to Euphie again… we should go to the school festival again together, this time the three of us. Milly said that we can do another one soon, since the last one got interrupted by Euphie's identity becoming revealed, so I thought that maybe she'd like to come with us. Um, I'm sorry, I know that you said that we shouldn't see her anymore, but I really want to be with her, one last time. " _\_

"**Nunnally, haven't you heard the news?**" Lelouch asked her.

_\_ "The radio station suddenly cut off." _\_ she replied. _\_ "Did something happen?" _\_

"**No, everything's fine.**" Lelouch lied, forcing his voice to be cheery. "**Everyone's really happy with Euphie's new Japan****. ****I'm sorry. I'll be home tomorrow, so let's talk then. ****I love you.**"

He hung up. "Have you noticed any other changes, other than being unable to control your Geass?" C.C. asked him, turning to face the blinds.

"**No.**" Lelouch told her, sitting on the bed. "**But… Euphie tried to disobey the order I gave her under the Geass. I thought that perhaps my power was waning, but now that I think about it…**" Lelouch chuckled bitterly. "**She was just unable to comprehend the idea of doing such a thing at first. Well, of course **_**she**_** would…**"

"And?" C.C. asked, letting Jiro float around the room and walking towards her accomplice.

"**That's it.**" Lelouch told her, hands clasped together, shaking uncontrollably. "**I just…**"

She sat on the bed and pulled him into a hug. "It's alright." She told him as he began to sob. "I told you, didn't I? That I'd stay by your side…"

* * *

"We've lost our advantage." The officer explained to Lord Guilford as he pointed to the red dots appearing across the map of Area 11. "In the past few hours, those who have heard the news on the internet have begun an insurrection. The largest armed force, the Order of the Black Knights, has set forth, absorbing civilians as it advances, and is headed for the Kanto Region! All the other Regions have had their hands full, and we can't hope for reinforcements. Including the Honorary Britannians who have defected, the enemy's force exceeds tens of thousands of trainers!"

"We cannot mobilise without the Princess's orders." Guilford told them.

"But after cancelling the attack, the Vicereine has locked herself in Princess Euphemia's quarters!" another officer protested.

"And with General Dalton MIA…" another stated, trailing off.

* * *

"Euphie." Cornelia snarled at her sister. "What the hell were you _thinking!_"

"I have to kill all the Japanese. Then we can continue with the SAZ," Euphemia told her sister with a smile, despite being currently strapped in a straightjacket. "They won't let me out, so could you please do it for me, sister?"

"This isn't like you, Euphie." Cornelia pleaded, shaking her sister's shoulders "SNAP OUT OF IT!"

"Viceriene!" a doctor shouted, pulling her off his patient. "She's not herself!"

"Tch." Cornelia grunted, releasing her sister and coming up with a thought. "And what about that Knight of yours, Kururugi?" she asked Euphie. "He's an Eleven too, isn't he?"

"Suzaku?" Euphie asked, frowning confusedly, becoming somewhat upset. "I love him, but he's Japanese… could you kill him for me?"

Cornelia realized, right then, her sister was gone. The sister who she loved, the sister who had fallen for that honorary Brittanian was lost to her. "Very well." She lied. "I'll kill every last one of them for you, sister."

Euphie smiled. "Thank you, sister!" Cornelia stormed out of there, putting a blade to Suzaku's throat as the door opened.

"Euphie!" Suzaku shouted, dodging under the blade and running for the closing door.

When it did close, he couldn't open it.

It wasn't locked, he just couldn't bring himself to open it.

He had to live on.

"She's gone mad." Cornelia told him, trying not to cry, but collapsing onto the turning Suzaku's chest. "She's… not Euphie… anymore…"

Cornelia screamed.

* * *

"Man, we're actually gonna do this, aren't we?" Rivalz asked Kallen as they rode to Kanto on the new torterra mobile base they'd taken from the Britannian's in Shinjo.

"It's what we've been fighting all this time for…" Kallen replied, sighing. "What happened tonight..?"

Rivalz put his arm around her shoulder. "It'll be okay." He told her.

She flicked him off. "I've been fighting a lot longer than you have." She growled.

"Then comfort me and tell _me_ it'll be fine!" he laughed hollowly. Kallen paused and looked at her classmate. His eyes were darting around nervously and he seemed to be shivering. "I mean, we're really going for it this time, aren't we? Can we even…?" he asked, chuckling nervously.

"Eh, grow up!" Tamaki shouted, swinging his arm around the boy's neck. "By tomorrow, Kanto will be ours! Those Britannian bastards will get exactly what they deserve!"

Rivalz frowned at the 'Brittanian bastard' comment, looking away, and Kallen squeezed his real arm reassuringly. "We'll make it through," she told him.

He smiled a real smile in thanks.

* * *

"Euphie…" Suzaku asked absently in his own room. "What… happened to you?"

"Shall I tell you?"

Suzaku turned to see a middle-aged man with wild blue hair and a sunken, skull-like face standing in his room in an unfamilliar grey uniform. There was no identification badge on his chest- he wasn't a crewmember. "What're you doing here on the Rayquaza?" Suzaku demanded.

"We finally meet, Suzaku Kururugi." The man told him. "My name is Cyrus."

"Cyrus?" Suzaku asked.

* * *

"_**IF WE CAPTURE CORNELIA, WE HAVE WON!**__"_ Zero declared, rising from his throne. "_**All forces, proceed as planned, and remain on high alert! Silver, have Toudou hold the front line.**_" He ordered, C.C. rising from her seat to follow as he walked past her. "_**You take care of things here.**_"

"Hmph." Silver grunted, turning back to the console.

The young girl from before opened the door and blocked Zero's path. "_**Sumeragi?**_" Lelouch asked her.

"Thank goodness I caught you!" the princess of Japan declared. "That wasn't nice, leaving me behind like that! I've been a fan of yours since your big debut saving my cousin! I thought we could finally have a nice talk together…" she reached out, standing on her tippy toes to try and touch the top of his mask with one hand, placing the other atop her own head. "You're taller than I had imagined, but that's alright, I'll soon catch up!"

"Lady Kaguya." Silver noted. "I thought you were in Mount Silver with the other heads of Kyoto?"

"I caught up with you so I could see my husband fight!" the princess declared happily.

"_**Oh, you two are married?**_" Lelouch asked, turning to glance at Silver, who choked.

"HELL NO!" Silver shouted with rage. "Bitch, I will mutiny your ass if you aren't careful!"

"I'm talking about _you_, silly!" Kaguya giggled. "When you win this battle, you'll need to get married sometime! If you can't show your face, then you'll need someone who'll accept you all the same, right?"

"_**You sound confident in my victory.**_" Zero commented.

"Of course!" she said with a smile. "I am, after all, the goddess Palkia herself, here to guide you swiftly to victory!"

"_**Well, that's reassuring.**_" Lelouch chuckled. "_**I'm sorry to say, however, that I've already sold my soul to the devil, **__**G**__**iratina.**_"

"Eh?" Kaguya asked as C.C.'s eyes widened.

"_**So as you can imagine**__**, I can't get along with a goddess right now.**_" Zero told the princess, striding past her menacingly.

* * *

Somewhere, in a mobile lab, a test subject broke out of his glass container, landing on the floor amongst the broken glass and orange slop.

The scientists meant to be controlling the subject scurried to reach the containment failsafe. They took about four combined steps before a web of electricity burst from their computer consoles and caught them, sending them into spasms on the ground. From the speakers, a voice echoed through the blaring static.

_\_ _ROOoooTOOooooM!_ _\_

Jeremiah Gottswald stood up, his eye shining with an unearthly green. "Good morning to you." He stated as two orange thunderbolt-shaped spikes burst from his shoulders. He was surrounded by a ghostly green glow as he stepped past the paralyzed scientists. "Zero… prepare yourself."

* * *

"_**Hear me Britannia!**_" Zero declared from atop his lugia, flying to the front of his army. "_**I am Zero! I am a rebel against all those who abuse their power! I give you until midnight to surrender your armies before I utterly destroy you and everything you hold dear.**_"

"_**This is my final warning.**_" He continued. "_**I have been more than patient with you, so I shall give you until midnight. My forces shall not attack before then. You have three minutes.**_"

* * *

"Your threats are meaningless, Zero." Cornelia stated from atop her dragonite. "Saffron is an impenetrable fortress."

* * *

"You can still go back." C.C. told Lelouch. "At this rate, not just Area Eleven, but the whole world will get dragged into this war of yours."

"_**I know.**_" He replied as his pokénav began ringing. "_**But still…**_"

He checked the number. _'Euphemia! Impossible, I never gave her this number… but I know someone close to her who does…'_

He removed his mask. "**Hello?**" He asked.

_\_ "Lelouch, it's me." _\_ Suzaku said from the other end. _\_ "Are you in school?" _\_

"**No, but I will be tomorrow.**" Lelouch lied.

_\_ "I see." _\_ his friend replied. _\_ "I want you to tell the guys something from me." _\_

"**What is it?**"

_\_ "I'd… like them not to look up at the sky. Because I'll be up there… and I don't want them to see me…" _\_ Suzaku requested. _\_ "Lelouch, do you hate anyone enough that you'd want to kill them?" _\_ he asked.

"**You know I do.**" Lelouch told him.

_\_ "Before today, I never thought that I could ever think that way." _\_ Suzaku said. _\_ "Because unless I followed the rules, I'd just become a murderer. But now… I'm being controlled by hatred. I'm fighting to kill someone. I'm going to commit murder tonight in the skies above Saffron, so…" _\_

"**Let your hate flow.**" Lelouch told him. "**This is for Euphie. Besides, we decided long ago that there was no turning back.**"

_\_ "For Nunnally?" _\_ Suzaku asked.

"**Yeah.**" Lelouch nodded, checking the time. "**I'd better go, then.**"

_\_ "Arigatou, Lelouch." _\_ Suzaku said, using the formal Japanese thank you.

"**Don't worry about it.**" Lelouch replied with a smile. "**We're friends, aren't we?**"

_\_ "Ever since seven years ago…" _\_

"**Yes.**" Lelouch nodded. "**See you.**"

_\_ "I'll talk to you later." _\_ Suzaku added as Lelouch hung up and replaced his mask.

Then midnight struck.

And Saffron City collapsed.

"_**Suzaku.**_" Lelouch said to himself. "_**My hands are already stained dark with blood. If you too wish to fight me, then so be it. I'll welcome you to hell with open arms. We are, after all, friends!**_"

And Zero laughed, watching the city fall and burn.

* * *

_Ever since that day, I suppose I've been craving destruction and chaos_

_Yes, before creation there must first come destruction_

_If my soul stands in my way, then I shall toss it aside_

_Yes, for I have no choice but to move forward_

_**So…**_

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

OH HELLS YEAH!

THIS! IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!

Man though, this took me a solid six and a half hours to write, so it damn well better be good!

COME ON!

Also, vote. Was this fate kinder to Euphie or crueler?

_**Varanus:** And this is just the build up, ladies and gents. It gets worse before it gets better. You know, I told my sister about the scene where Suzaku tried to open Euphie's door._

_She nearly burst into tears. Trust SamJaz to take something like Euphie's survival and make it even more messed up and tragic than what actually happened. Just wait until Fleija…_

Fleija? Dude, just wait until you see what I have planned for _Vincent_ for crying out loud!_  
_


	21. The Black Rebellion

Here is the final chapter of R1, and it is a double whammy again, since this was a double episode in the original anime. And you know what else? This is the longest chapter I have ever done for any fanfiction ever.

WakingWorldDreamWorld, I'm glad I got a reaction.

Karasu, you have to admit that, considering Britannia's 'Survival Of The Fittest' policy, the sparta gag was actually fitting.

Poggg, he's still Japanese. He wasn't excluded in the original, so he won't be excluded here. Also, concerning Red, you are way, waaaaay off. But you're right about him not being a Code, or about Lelouch having previously Geassed him. All will be revealed in due time.

And yes, you shall declare me a Magnificent Bastard.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Lelouch predicted that the battle would take place in Saffron city.

However, he was also aware that he could be wrong, so he developed multiple plans for attacking all of Kanto and Johto's major cities.

He did agree, however, that the plan he had decided on for Saffron city was a particularly devastating one.

* * *

Saffron city had a crossroad tunnel built underneath it, a way for people from the neighbouring cities to get through without compromising Saffron's security.

It was a simple matter for Lelouch to Geass the guards as he planted glalie and electrodes along the subterranean corridors at strategic positions, then slowly flood it.

It the three minutes to midnight, the glalie began to freeze and thaw the water, the expanded ice cracking the walls and roofs repeatedly, weakening the structure beneath the tower massively as more water was pumped in. each time the water froze, the more the tunnels were damaged.

And at midnight, the trained electrode exploded.

All but one.

* * *

A cross-shaped scar tore through the city, the ground rising up into the sky.

The Silph Co. head office was the most impressive. It rose in the sky like a beacon, before shattering and imploding under its own weight, yet still being carried up.

The entire city was forced up into the air. The magnet train was torn from its tracks and obliterated by the force of the explosion.

That forced a surge of electromagnetic energy right back to the power plant restored specifically to power it, which caused the plant to overload, forcing the entire Kanto region onto their personal home-use back-up generators.

The shrapnel, broken steel, stone, soldiers and pokémon were carried high into the air.

Where the last electrode exploded.

* * *

The last electrode was the biggest, strongest, and most destructive one of all.

It was the one Mao intended to use as a bomb to kill Nunnally and Lelouch.

Suzaku himself had captured it and given it to Lelouch as a gift.

Lelouch had put it to sleep and placed it in the centre of the crossroads, right underneath the heart of Saffron City.

Now, it rose up with the shrapnel, and once they all reached the height of the blast…

It exploded.

* * *

The blast sent all the shrapnel flying in all directions.

Many would say that it was a miracle that no civilians were harmed, but Lelouch had carefully calculated this.

All the shrapnel fell in a perfect ring, forming a perimeter around Celadon, Cerulean, Vermillion and Lavender.

Cycling road was obliterated, Mt. Moon was buried under landslides, Rock Tunnel collapsed, Silence Bridge was torn apart, and the Vermillion docks were completely cut off from the ocean.

None of the four cities around Saffron were harmed.

In fact, since all the civilians were evacuated from Saffron city before hand, the only civilian casualty from the explosions was the old man living on Cerulean Cape, and those closest to the generator in the power plant.

The soldiers in Saffron, however, were no so fortunate.

* * *

Those inside the city walls were obliterated. They would never even find their bodies.

The ones outside the city walls, the bravest ones who volunteered to fight the Black Knights first to stop them from entering the city…

Many of them survived.

The irony was, the more prepared they were to die in battle; the less likely they were to be killed from the blast.

However, all of them were blasted from their feet, thrown into the air and landing into the dirt.

All of them deafened by the explosion.

* * *

'_If I cannot become a Messiah, then I shall become a demon.'_ Lelouch thought to himself, laughing at the chaos and destruction his plan had brought about.

Cornelia had quickly recovered and began ordering a swift retreat to the Celadon Mansion, the great palace built within the city that ruled all of Area Eleven.

But none of her brave men could hear her orders. They were injured, confused, deafened and isolated from any help.

The only ones who retreated were the ones too terrified to give a raticate's ass about honour.

"_**This is fine.**_" Lelouch told C.C. "_**All that's left to do is broadcast a video of the falling government, as well as the independence announcement to the entire world. Even if he doesn't want to, that guy will appear.**_" Lelouch smirked, talking about his father the Emperor. "_**If I can speak one-to-one with that bastard of Britannia… all the cards fall into my hands.**_"

* * *

Lelouch looked down as Toudou led the charge to obliterate the remains of Cornelia's army as they ineptly retreated to Celadon Mansion.

"_**Zero squadron and the special squadron are to enter Cerulean City and take control of Ashford Academy.**_" Zero declared into his pokénav. "_**Turn one of the buildings into a command post. Ohgi, you go there and take command.**_"

No reply.

"_**Ohgi!**_" Lelouch repeated.

_\_ "Ah sorry." _\_ the man apologised. _\_ "Understood, Zero." _\_

'_Honestly… keep your head in this one Ohgi._' Lelouch sighed internally.

* * *

Suzaku strode into the lab aboard the S.S. Rayquaza, master ball in hand, power in his stride and murder in his eyes.

"You want to go to Saffron, right?" Lloyd asked, sitting atop the soldier's flight armour. "But, congratulations~!" he shouted, holding up the activation key for it. "This detail is from the research unit. Everything that needs to be done is done. The head also did not give any orders to launch. So, to launch is to disobey orders."

"Suzaku, I understand your feelings!" Cecile told him as he marched towards the scientist.

"No~!" Lloyd sang playfully, holding the key out of Suzaku's reach.

Suzaku grabbed the Count's bicep and punched him in the cheek so hard that a pink shockwave spiralled down his arm.

"Saffron is where Zero is." Suzaku stated angrily, holding up the key. "I must kill Zero with my own hands! Do not stop me…" he growled, placing the Euphemia Badge onto the breast of his uniform. "THIS IS MY DUTY! AS EUPHIE'S KNIGHT!"

Inside the master ball in his hand, mewtwo glowed a menacing red.

* * *

Toudou and his team pursued the retreating soldiers as Cornelia screamed into her communicator for reinforcements, still too deaf to hear the reply.

Because of this, she didn't know what kind of reinforcements were coming, how long they'd be, or how many there were.

She was shouting for an army of several thousand.

If she could hear that the reinforcements were a force of only three trainers, she would have calmed down, turned around, and continued to hold the line, confident in her victory.

But because she couldn't hear, she didn't know, so she didn't.

The Knights were coming.

And not the Glaston Knights who had shown up to help the remains of Cornelia's army retreat.

The Knights of Five, Nine and One were coming to win the fight.

* * *

A funnel of air cut though the night sky, hungry for the Brittanian aerial troops rushing to defend Saffron. The pidgeot, crobat and fearow had no hope of escaping and were sucked together with their riders into the tornado that swept over them, leaving not a feather behind.

"_**Silver.**_" Lelouch said into his communicator as lugia stopped its aeroblast. "_**All the remaining aerial units have been obliterated. Give G1 to Kageyori and move onto your designated area.**_"

_\_ "Gotcha." _\_

"_**Yoshida. Prepare the storm.**_"

_\_ "Understood." _\_

"_**Kamaki, Rakkshel?**_"

_\_ "On the move." _\_

"_**Kallen will become backup.**_"

_\_ "Hai!" _\_

"_**Toudou. If the target appears…**_"

_\_ "Yes." _\_

"_**Alright, Ohgi, what's the name of the unifier?**_"

_\_ "Ah, um, Shinazaki Sayako." _\_

'_My maid!'_ Lelouch realised in surprised. _'Should've paid closer attention to her.'_

* * *

"Britannia is preparing only to defend the government." C.C. told Lelouch, multitasking between flying lugia and keeping an eye of the flow of the battle while he strategised.

"_**They are awaiting reinforcements while minimising losses.**_" Zero replied. "_**So that's what they do in the end..?**_"

* * *

"GET DOWN AND PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!" Tamaki shouted as he stormed into the Student Council office, waving his rifle at Shirley, Milly and Nunnally while his nidoking waved its tail menacingly, more soldiers rushing into the office. "This school is now under the command of the Order of the Black Knights!"

"_Put your gun down_." A masked and hooded Rivalz ordered in a gruff voice as Zero walked in with a masked Kallen.

"_**This school shall be used by the Order of the Black Knight.**_" Zero announced. "_**We shall run it as our command centre.**_"

"We cannot say no, can we?" Milly asked angrily, standing protectively in front of the other two girls. Behind her, Shirley stared in disbelief at Zero, gripping Nunnally's hand tightly.

"_**I can guarantee the safety of all of you.**_" The masked terrorist told the girls. His gaze under the mask drifted to his sister, her head arched so she could catch every word said. Her face was filled with worry and concern, but little actual fear, and she placed a hand on top of Shirley's as silent support. Lelouch felt oddly proud of the sight of her showing such strength.

'_Nunnally...'_ Lelouch thought silently. _'While this battle wages, the Black Knights shall defend this place. But…' _

"How can we trust you?" Milly asked, bringing his attention back to current matters. "You're at war with our Britannia, aren't you?"

"Chairman, please." Rivalz pleaded in his normal voice, lowering his hood and removing his mask. "We'll guard this place with our lives."

"R-Rivalz…" Shirley gasped as Kallen removed her own mask. "A-and Kallen too?"

"Please everyone." Kallen pleaded. "Just do as he says."

"I see…" Milly snarled. "So that's how it is… Rivalz!" she shouted in disbelief. "You- ar- what the hell!"

"We promise to protect all of the students in this school, not just the student council." Rivalz told her professionally. "We wouldn't be very good allies of justice if we let school children under our care get involved with our battles."

"Hey, what did you do to me?" Shirley asked, standing up to face them. "The reason why I'm so scared… it's because of all of you, right? What did you do to me…?" Shirley turned away from them, hands in her face. "How cruel are you… how cruel…"

"ZERO!" Ohgi shouted, running into the room before anyone could work out what was going on with Shirley. "Lancelot is—"

"_**He finally came!**_" Zero declared with joy.

* * *

Suzaku and Lancelot flew towards the oncoming gunfire and pokémon attacks. "_OUTTA MAY WAAAAYY!"_ he roared, slicing people in two with a sword of blue flames in his hands.

He slashed through the magnezone cannon, he cut down the armoured salamence, he decapitated the people firing bullets at him with a shockwave of blue fire.

He was moving with such speed and fury; mewtwo barely had to do anything other than keep up.

"Where is Zero..?" Suzaku asked with rage. "I WANT _ZEEROO!_"

* * *

"_The Geass?" Suzaku had asked Cyrus some time earlier, back on the S.S. Rayquaza._

"_Yes." The man nodded. "It's a supernatural ability that Zero has, based on the human usage of the pokémon attack, Hidden Power. __It is a power of the mind, warping people's decisions and making them act out the user's ideal vision of the world."_

"_No way…." Suzaku gasped. __"That's… that's impossible."_

"_Impossible? Not in the least. Consider what you have experienced.__Why did Euphemia suddenly change?" Cyrus continued. "And you, who is so loyal to orders, and was always hoping to die in battle to atone for the murder of your father, do what you did in Evergrande?"_

"_Then… that means…" Suzaku gasped. "The power to control other's and make them lose their memories… it all makes sense…"_

"_That is right." Cyrus stated. "It is because of Zero abusing this power that this whole rebellion took place, why your beloved Euphemia slaughtered all those people, why you can never be with her again."_

_Suzaku snarled, then stormed out of the room._

_Cyrus allowed himself a little smile._

_Normally, emotions are useless things, and he had long thrown them away._

_But this time, it was appropriate._

* * *

"_ZEEROO!"_ Suzaku screamed in rage, surging across the ruins of Saffron City in search of the one he must kill.

The mewtwo behind him, however, felt that rage pour into him from his link with Suzaku. He felt himself reminded of his old fury.

He hated it.

He hated what it was doing to his human.

In fact, if it wasn't for the Geass Lelouch had placed on Suzaku, the soldier would have been incinerated by the wall of black and gold flame created by ho-oh. As it was, he veered out of the wave of fire instinctively when he felt Lancelot's warning in the back of his mind. "SUZAKU!" Kallen shouted from atop the phoenix.

"KALLEN!" Suzaku roared, flames bursting around him like a cloak.

"We finally meet in battle." Kallen sneered. "I'm sorry, but you must die here."

"YOU IDIOT!" Suzaku shouted. "YOU AND JAPAN HAVE BEEN LIED TO BY ZERO!"

"Those words really piss me off…" Kallen snarled. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM!"

"AND YOU DO? THEN TELL ME!" Suzaku roared in reply, leaping into the air towards her with a Dragon Rush, a maniacal grin on his face. "WHERE IS ZERO RIGHT NOW!"

Ho-oh used Protect, creating a green barrier to block Suzaku's attack and flapped back to get some distance between them, then launched a blast of Sacred Fire at him, which was deflected by Lancelot stepping in front of his human and using Reflect. The flames crashed against the invisible barrier and spilled back at Kallen, whose phoenix spread its wings to re-absorb the attack. Before they could counter, however, Lancelot burst through the weakened blaze, charging at the bird.

"Now, tell me!" Suzaku shouted, recklessly charging alongside Lancelot with sword in hand, cloaked again in his own blue flames. "WHERE IS ZERO!"

Ho-oh dodged Suzaku's rushed attack, only to get hit by the mewtwo's Shadow Ball. "I'M NOT TELLING!" Kallen shouted as she righted her ho-oh, getting it back into a decent flight pattern. "YOU TRAITOR!"

"Then…" Suzaku growled, looking down on Kallen with contempt and rage as he raised his burning sword above his head. "Let's end it HERE!" With a burst of fire swelling around him like a battle aura, he shot towards Kallen and her ho-oh in a furious dive-bomb attack.

"DON'T THINK YOU'RE SO COOL BECAUSE THERE'S TWO OF YOU!" she shouted, leaping from ho-oh and onto her Gurren, which clamped onto a vertical surface amongst the debris as ho-oh dodged the attack. Cursing, Suzaku slowed his descent just before he collided into the ground, and twisted around just in time to take an X-scissor to the chest. Before he collapsed, however, Gurren surged forward and clamped down hard on his shoulders, pinning him in place at the red-head's mercy. "I got you…" Kallen grinned, pulling out her knife and stabbing at her enemy.

Suzaku blocked his face instinctively, the knife stabbing through the bone in his arm as Lancelot threw ho-oh to the ground. Kallen instinctively turned to look at her phoenix, and Suzaku took the opportunity before him. Twisting his arm, he placed his uninjured hand to the scizor's chest and let it surge with flames, launching a fireball at point-blank range.

Suzaku took some minor damage but the payoff was worth the effort. Releasing him immediately, the bug and steel type screamed as it lurched back, throwing its master into the concrete behind it violently before curling up on itself and passing out from the damage.

"Now, tell me." Suzaku demanded, pulling the knife from his forearm without even flinching and approaching her menacingly. "Where is Zero?"

Kallen grunted and forced herself up. "I hate men who keep pestering me." She snapped.

"Is that so?" Suzaku asked, towering over her and flipping the knife in his hand into a reverse grip. "Then…"

He knelt down and stabbed her in the thigh.

She screamed.

"Now." Suzaku snarled, twisting the knife to increase her pain. "_Tell me._"

"N-not a chance…" she grunted, left eye closed in pain.

Suzaku sighed, and pulled the knife out.

Then stabbed her other thigh.

"AAARRGGHHH!"

"_TELL ME!_" Suzaku screamed.

"_**STOP THIS!**_"

They both turned to see the masked man approach them atop his lugia.

"_**Kururugi Suzaku. I expected better from you.**_" Zero growled. "_**It seems I was naïve. In order to put an end to this, let us fight, one on one with our pokémon.**_"

"Just as I want it to." Suzaku growled with an insane sneer, leaving the knife in Kallen's leg as he stood up and floated into the air beside his mewtwo.

* * *

Once she reached the Celadon Mansion, Cornelia immediately had a medic look at her ears, as well as the broken eardrums of her men.

The damage was severe, but it was nothing Brittanian medical science couldn't find at least a temporary fix for. After ten minutes of surgery and the dispensation of some hearing aids, she was once more fit for battle.

She once more repeated her order to retreat and regroup, then got to work organising her forces to form a defensive perimeter around the mansion.

"Zero won't bother attacking civilians when we are here." She told her men. "We just need to hold out until the reinforcements arrive." She turned to her new aide. "When the hell will they get here?"

"Um, the navy will be here in twelve hours ma'am, but the advance support will arrive in thirty-minutes."

"How many units in this support?" Cornelia snarled angrily

"T-three ma'am." The nervous aide confessed.

"Only three units!" Cornelia shouted, making the aide flinch. "That's nowhere near enough!"

"N-no ma'am…" the aide corrected fearfully. "T-three _men_ ma'am…"

Cornelia's eyes widened with shock, then they turned into a grin as she realised what she had just got. "Thank you, Schneizel." She announced to the room. "You've given me more than what I need to destroy this rebellion once and for all!"

She turned to the line of officers. "Leak this information to the Black Knights." She ordered. "Once it's leaked, defend the government perimeter along with Guilford."

"P-Princess Cornelia!"

"It's preparation for the dance." The princess told her men with a sly grin.

* * *

"ZEROOOOOOOOO!" the maddened Jeremiah screamed, his left eye shaking madly as thunder sparked across his green iris. When news of Zero's attack had been reported on the screens, the man flew into an insatiable rage as he tried to claw his way out of the containment facility.

_\_ _"ROOOoooTOOOoooM!"_ _\_ screeched the speakers of the scientists computers, ghostly shapes flitting around the screens in lieu of the diagnostic readings.

"Can you not calm him down!" Blaine shouted at one of the junior scientists.

"His resistance is too strong!" the junior replied as thunder pulsed around the orange spikes coming from Jeremiah's shoulders and the base of his spine.

"Give him a tranquiliser!" another shouted as another scientist rushed forward with the syringe.

"AWAY FROM ME, KNAVE!" Jeremiah snarled, batting the scientist aside with a fist cracking with electricity. "You're trying to hold me back? Stop me from fulfilling MY LOYALTY? I MUST! FIND! **ZEROOOOOOO!**"

* * *

"There's some flying pokémon headed for the government!"

"How many!" Ohgi shouted.

"Just three sir!" the man reported. "A pidgeot, a skarmory, and charizard, sir!"

"Then they shouldn't have too much effect on the situation now, should they?" Ohgi asked, looking at the computer screen. "Cerulean is under our control, Silver's taken Lavender, Kaguya's group is taking Vermillion, and Saffron is in ruins." He reported. "The Britannian army's gathered in Celadon, cycling road is broken, so once Toudou's team circles around and takes Viridian, we can attack from all sides."

"This is for Yoshida…" Ohgi sighed.

"Vice-commander, we've captured this suspicious person."

"If it's a student, then release him." Ohgi decided. "We've no reason to hold him."

"No sir, we captured her sneaking through the school's back entrance."

Ohgi turned around and got hit by the bombshell that was his girlfriend glaring at him with a look he had never seen on her face before.

"I… no… she's… a contact. I'll hear her report in private…" he stammered, quickly grabbing her wrist and dragging her from the room.

* * *

"Is Nina still in her lab?" Milly asked, glancing at the computer desk where the quiet girl usually sat.

"Yeah, but on top of that, we've got all this…" Shirley added, glaring at Rivalz. "How could you do this?" she asked.

"Because I agree with what he's doing." Rivalz told her. "Just because I'm not Japanese doesn't mean I can't see that the whole system we have is crooked. Besides, I owe him one." He looked at his titanium right arm. "It wasn't as if I was going to get Automail on the NHS…"

"So it was a bribe?" Milly asked, part of her angry, part of her simply curious.

"No, I just trust him." Rivalz explained, meeting her glare with an even look.

"_YOU FILTH!" _a familiar voice screamed from outside.

Shirley, Milly and Rivalz rushed to the window to see Zero atop his lugia, the bird's massive paw-like wing ready to smash the student council room as Suzaku and Lancelot watched in disgust. "You'd descend to taking hostages…" Suzaku snarled. "What kind of one-on-one battle is this!"

"_**You were the one who rejected my offer of becoming my comrade.**_" Zero told him. "_**Regret about your senseless, beautiful school life.**_"

"Don't worry." Rivalz told the girls "It's a bluff." _'It has to be…'_ he added to himself, glancing at Nunnally.

Suzaku roared in anger, descending into the forest with mewtwo, dodging the hydro-pump from lugia and rushing through the trees and towards the school.

Right into the wobbuffet ring.

Lelouch felt a familiar visceral pleasure in seeing his plan be executed so perfectly as Suzaku and his mewtwo crashed hard into the dirt, pinned down by an immovable, invisible force.

"ZERO!" Suzaku screamed in hate, unable to move otherwise. "RIGHT UNTIL THE VERY END, YOU ARE A LIAR! A TRAITOR!"

"_**Have you learned nothing from our battles?**_" Zero asked. "_**I make the ultimate use of the terrain when I fight. You were the one who rushed into a trap I set.**_" Lugia then ascended into the sky and turned away. "_**Goodbye, Kururugi Suzaku…**_"

"_BASTAAARRDD!_" Suzaku's voice howled after him.

* * *

He reached Celadon city within minutes, to see Britannia holding the line against the swarming army.

"_**As expected, their defence is strong.**_" Lelouch commented proudly.

"Is this the time to act all cool and stuff?" C.C. asked him. "It's all over if you blow them up."

Lelouch smirked. "_**LUGIA!**_" he shouted. "_**AEROBLAST!**_"

The great bird of the storm belched a compressed tornado that arched across the skies of Saffron, sweeping up anything and anyone unfortunate enough to be caught within the reaches of the wind. Not satisfied with then number it had destroyed, lugia pressed on with the attack and rotated on the spot, obliterating anything in the sky that got sucked into its wrath.

When it as done, the skies were clean- all of Britannia's aerial support was eliminated. "_**Toudou.**_" Zero said into his pokénav. "_**I will attack from the roof. Keep up the good work.**_"

_\_ "Isn't that rather reckless, sir?" _\_

"_**I will be careful.**_" Lelouch told him with a smirk, landing on the roof of the palace fortress as he hung up. For a moment he was struck by a sense of déjà-vu as he scanned the palace garden they found themselves in. "_**How **__**similar…**_" he commented absently.

"It is just like the Aeris palace, isn't it?" C.C. asked.

"_**How do you know of that place?**_" Lelouch snapped.

"I will tell you, someday." C.C. sighed. "When the time is right."

Lelouch decided to drop the matter for now and disembark from the lugia.

"Whoa, she's a beaut, isn't she?"

Lelouch span on the spot to see Red stroking lugia's neck. "A gift from me to you." He smiled, giving the beast a loving pat on the shoulder before turning to Zero.

"I like what you've done so far, it's pretty damned impressive." Red told Zero with a smile. "But man, if Cornelia knew that the one she was fighting was her very own brother-"

Lelouch shut him up by punching him in the face.

Red staggered a bit, but recovered as his pikachu jumped onto his shoulder. "Not bad, not bad!" he laughed, seeming more surprised than anything else. "But you really ought to know, Iron Count Steven and Factory Head Noland are down there kicking your men's asses."

Lelouch glared under the names of the Knights of Five and Nine. "_**I'm surprised to see the Emperor care enough about this to send even One Knight of the Round, let alone three.**_" Lelouch told him, circling around the garden.

"Oh, I called them over." Red shrugged, circling himself. "I happened to be in the area, saw this coming, so I thought I'd invite a couple of mates."

"_**How do you know C.C.?**_" Lelouch asked him.

"I haven't seen her since I left home eight years ago, but she came over all the time." He shrugged. "She's practically my Auntie."

Lelouch glanced at C.C., who was only looking away in disinterest as Jiro flew over to her from wherever it came from.

"Eyes on your opponent." Red told Zero, who looked to see a charging eevee turn into a flareon as it leapt for him.

Lelouch back-handed it, sending out his sandslash as the flareon hopped back to Red and turned into a vaporeon, which launched a torrent of water in return. _'What the…'_ he asked himself, but glared. _'I see. So he can control how it evolves and back again.'_ He thought _'Could his Geass's power…'_

He thought up of sixteen potential powers in an instant, and discarded about eight of them for not holding weight.

Red then grinned and pulled out a thunderstone. "The Vermillion stones." He explained. "Unlike the other evolutionary stones, these ones can be used over and over again. Vee was modified by Team Rocket to have unstable DNA, so she often degenerates back to an eevee a few minutes after evolving. You won't figure out my Geass from that." He grinned.

Lelouch snarled. "_**LUGIA!**_" he shouted. "_**PSYCHIC!**_"

Lugia screeched and blasted Red with a shockwave of psychic energy so dense it was almost visible, a glowing pink wave of super-normal force.

"Vee! Faint Attack!" ordered Red. His eevee leapt straight into the wave of energy and morphed, its fur becoming dark as it evolved into an umbreon. The shockwave burst like a soap-bubble on contact with the now Dark-type pokemon, who vanished into the night without a trace.

"_**Lugia! Behind you!**"_ Lelouch yelled in warning, not quick enough to prevent a deep gouge from the umbreon that carved itself into Lugia's neck. The bird of storms screeched in pain, and batted the umbreon off before it could do any real damage.

"_**Before it recovers! Hit it with Hydro Pump!**"_ Lelouch ordered.

"Circle around it with Quick Attack." Red said, grinning.

The umbreon ran like a phantom underneath lugia, staying too close to it for the legendary guardian to get a good strike on it with the jet of water blasting from it's maw. Water began to pool around their ankles, and Red swore as he noticed what was happening.

'_So, realised it now?' _Lelouch thought with a smirk._ 'Even if Hydro Pump doesn't get a direct hit, the rising water level will slow your pokémon down long enough for lugia to…'_

"_**Now! SURF!**"_

Lugia reared back and clapped its wings together in a mighty wing-beat, creating a gale that sent the pooled water surging forward as a solid wave, sweeping Vee up helplessly in the attack.

Or so he thought. A vaporeon burst from the wave, no worse for wear. _"**How did it evolve? You didn't have a chance to use a stone!**"_ Lelouch shoutedin disbelief as the vaporeon rushed back to Red's side, degenerating back into an eevee.

Red grinned and shrugged. "Hey, the stones are only manual controls to the evolutions. That right there was pure instinct," he said, brushing his eevee's head. "Oh, and by the by?" The eevee morphed into a jolteon and began to flex its muscles, building up a static charge. "Thanks for getting your pokémon to stand in a pool of water for me. Vee, Pika! THUNDER!"

Lugia sensed its master's panic for it and tried to rise, but no matter how fast the bird of storms was, it was no match for the speed of the twin bolts of lightning that crashed down from the sky onto it. It screeched and convulsed in pain, unable to fly or escape the electricity thanks to the water pooling around it's feet.

"_**Lugia, focus! We've planned for this!**"_ Lelouch barked. Lugia cast a pained look at its trainer and sighed, following his orders and using Calm Mind to push past the pain. With an ear-splitting screech, it managed to take to the air, hovering momentarily over the battlefield. Lelouch braced himself and gave the command. _**"NOW! EARTHQUAKE!**"_

Lugia slammed into the garden with such force Lelouch was shocked the building didn't crumble completely. As it was, the garden was completely destroyed, the shockwaves shattering earth and concrete alike. Red swore and his pikachu leapt back onto his shoulder, tripping but otherwise remaining relatively safe. His jolteon, however, was not so lucky, being smashed into the earth by the shockwave.

Red recalled it and clapped his hands. "Nice move! Let's see you do it again!" His pikachu darted forward and spilt into several identical pokémon as it used Double Team. Lelouch's sandslash, however, rose to confront it, covering for the sea guardian.

"_**Lugia, ignore his pokémon- attack Red directly! Psychic!**" _barked Lelouch.

The blast of pink energy obliterated the floor a foot away from Red. "Missed!" he laughed. "Man, that was unlucky."

"_**AGAIN!**_"

Red idly stepped to the side and blast missed again, destroying some more flooring. "You know, that girl did a serious number on this place. I should really move before the ground under my feet breaks." Red pointed out, stepping forward as the slates where he was standing collapsed once his foot left the ground.

'_Is his Geass the ability not to get hit by other abilities?'_ Lelouch wondered, drawing his sword and charging.

Lelouch tripped on a piece of rubble and fell over, sword clattering uselessly to his side. "Fail!" Red laughed, towering over the masked terrorist.

He stopped when he felt the cold metal against his throat. "Don't." C.C. ordered Red, Lelouch's blade to the Grandmaster's jugular. "I need him alive."

* * *

"Chigusa." Ohgi told his girlfriend once they were alone. "What're you doing here on the battlefield?" he sighed, walking towards her. "I'll find a safe place for you, come with me for now-" he asked, reaching out for her, but she stepped away from him angrily.

"I'm sorry I've hidden it from you." He told her. "But, I'm doing this for peace! As long as Zero releases Japan from Britannia… we can be together!"

"Don't say something so disgusting." The woman snapped, twisting around and taking his pistol, trapping him in a perfect gearbox as she put the gun to his kidney.

"How could I make wondrous love to an Eleven like you…" she wondered aloud with hate. She laughed bitterly. "My name is Villetta Nu, Britannia's knight!"

Ohgi stepped out of the hold and turned around as she shot him once in the stomach, stepping back as he fell to his knees.

"I-I see…" Ohgi gasped. "Chigusa… your memories have returned..?"

He fell to the ground under her steely glare.

* * *

Hearing the gunshot, several Black Knight members rushed to check on Ohgi. When they found their base commander curled on the ground, many of the younger members began to panic.

Rivalz stepped out of the council room to see what the hell was going on, which was when Nunnally made her move.

"Now's our chance." The wheelchair-bound blind girl hissed. "You two go and save Suzaku."

Milly and Shirley gasped and looked at her, then set their gazes and nodded.

* * *

"Dammit, where is she!" Shigeno growled, walking with his nidoking.

"Down here in the basement is the perfect place to hide…" Kurosaki sighed, standing behind his machamp.

"Zero…" Nina whispered, staggering towards the two men in hate as a mass of tentacles followed her out of the gloom. "Where is Zero..? Princess Euphemia's will… must be carried out…"

* * *

Nunnally heard the footsteps in the empty student council room, and felt an unpleasant wave of familiarity fall over her. "Is that… no, you're not C.C.…"

"Correct." Cyrus told her. "Nunnally. I have come to fetch you."

* * *

Lelouch cleared a path for himself as he devastated the soldiers blocking his path with the mewtwo he'd taken from Red. Why it was being so obedient to him, Lelouch neither knew nor cared. All that mattered was this final step.

He made sure that Cornelia was the only one alive before removing his mask.

"I see…" she managed. "You are the true face of Zero… the hatred that you have for Britannia…" she gasped as Lelouch covered his right eye. "Dalton's theory was correct…"

Lelouch just towered over her. "Y-you're doing this for Nunnally?" she gasped, gripping her wound as blood seeped from her chest.

"**Yes.**" Lelouch replied. "**I wish to destroy the current world, and build a new one.**"

"You're killing because of that pitiful excuse?" she choked. "You killed Clovis… drove Euphie insane…"

"**And you.**" Lelouch added. "**You clearly long for my mother, Marianne the Flash.**"

She forced herself into a sitting position with a bitter laugh. "It's clear that it's useless to continue this conversation." She told him.

"**You're right.**" He agreed, removing the hand covering his eye. "**Then, answer these question from Lelouch Vi Britannia!**"

"Sure." Cornelia replied obediently.

"**Are you the one who killed my mother?**"

"No."

"**Then who did?**" Lelouch asked.

"I don't know."

Lelouch gasped. "**You were the one in charge of security at the time, right?**" Lelouch asked.

"Yes."

"**So why did you let the security leave!**"

"I was ordered to."

"**BY WHO!**" Lelouch bellowed.

"By Empress Marianne"

"**By Mother!**" Lelouch gasped. "**No way… then… that means… mother knew that there would be an attack on that day… no way… then she would have let us escape!** **WHAT HAPPENED ON THAT DAY!**" he screamed. "**WHO! WHO KILLED MY MOTHER!**"

Cornelia opened her mouth, then closed it, unable to answer.

"**You don't know either..?**" Lelouch snarled. "**Then, who knows the truth!**" he demanded. "**You investigated the events of that day, right?**"

"The orders came from the emperor." Cornelia told him obediently. "Schneizel removed the remains."

"**Remains… of mother!**" Lelouch snapped. "**Then, that coffin…**"

The wall was smashed open by a swing from a silver tail, and Lelouch saw his lugia, recovered from it's battle, beckon him. "HURRY!" C.C. shouted from atop the great beast. "GET ON!"

"**I know.**" Lelouch grunted, walking towards her. "**The other two knights are bound to figure—**"

"No! That's not it!" C.C. shouted desperately. "Your sister's been kidnapped!"

Lelouch glared. "**I don't have time for your jokes.**" He told her, beginning to replace his mask. "**I will now use Cornelia as a hostage to—**"

"I KNOW!" C.C. shouted. "Isn't that your reason for living! They're headed for Mirage Island RIGHT NOW!"

Lelouch clipped on the mask _"**Mirage Island?**"_ he asked, realising that C.C. was being serious.

Then Lugia was smashed out the way by a huge orange and green orb of energy.

"**OUL HEIL BRRRITTAAAINNNNYAAAAHHH!**" screamed the man inside as the energy dissipated and he landed in the smashed corridor. "Hey, aren't you… Zero!" a mechanical Jeremiah with great spikes pointing out of his shoulders shouted. "I AM SO LUCKY! Foreordination! Frustration!"

"_**Aren't **__**you **__**Dunsparce?**_" Zero asked, jumping out of a window onto his lugia.

"Dun-_pleeEEAASSSEEE_!" he shouted, clapping his hands together before turning serious. "Can you die?"

'_He's insane…'_ Lelouch realised as Lugia flapped away. "_**Let's deal with this quickly and leave.**_" He told C.C.

Jeremiah swan-dived from the tower, curled into a spinning ball and created the orb again and flew into the lugia. "**ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!**" he shouted.

"_**GET LOST!**_" Lelouch shouted, returning the mewtwo into a great ball.

"**ZEROOOOOOOOOO!**"

* * *

Red sat atop a rock on the roof as the replica of the Aeris palace burned. Vee dozed beside him, having gone straight to sleep once Red had treated it with a Full Restore.

The capped teenager smiled. "This is gonna get all kinds of fun, right pika?" he asked.

"Chuu!" the yellow rodent replied happily as Red tossed him a pokéblock.

"He better look after that mewtwo though." He glared. "But if Auntie's still with him and he's trained lugia, then he must be somewhat competent, right?"

"Pika?" it asked, tilting its head as it nibbled the red cube.

Red sighed. "Yeah, I'll make sure to get him back tomorrow." He said, rubbing the pikachu on the head. "Trust me on this."

* * *

"How agile." C.C. commented as Jeremiah dodged another one of lugia's attacks while Lelouch called Ohgi. "_**Ohgi, it's me.**_"

_\_ "Zero!" _\_ Minami shouted. _\_ "Thank goodness…" _\_

"_**What's with Ohgi?**_" Lelouch asked.

_\_ "He's been shot." _\_ Minami reported. _\_ "We're treating him now. We're doing our best, but he's yet to regain conciousness." _\_

"_**You'll have to do then.**_" Zero told him. "_**Listen to me. Among the hostages in the student council room was a girl in a wheelchair. Where is she?**_"

_\_ "What?" _\_ Minami shouted. _\_ "Compared to that, Ohgi's—" _\_

"_**THAT GIRL IS MORE IMPORTANT!**_" Lelouch shouted. "_**She's Nunnally Vi Britannia, and we need her alive!**_"

Minami understood what he thought Zero meant. _\_ "Seriously! Shit… they've escaped…" _\_

"_**WHAT!**_"

_\_ "A-after Ohgi was shot, it just didn't seem as important anymore…" _\_

Lelouch gripped his forehead, but his mask was in the way. "_**I understand, it's my fault for not filling you in on the plan. Where's Rivalz?**_"

_\_ "He's looking for them, but no luck." _\_

"_**Right. Give Ohgi my best.**_" He hung up and called Milly as C.C. steered lugia away from Jeremiah's next attack. A bolt of lighting arced for them, but lugia cartwheeled away gracefully, holding Lelouch and C.C. firmly on it's back with it's psychic power. At this point, Lelouch was so desperate for news he didn't even notice that he was upside-down. "_**Milly, where's Nunnally?**_"

_\_ "She's alone in the clubhouse. Sorry, but we really can't—" _\_ Lelouch didn't even bother to hear the rest as he hung up, and began calling Nunnally.

His pokénav cut into static. _\_ _"ROOooTOOooM!"_ _\_

Lelouch snarled and hung up. _"**It seems Dunsparce here is starting to block the airwaves. What the hell is he?**"_

Lugia dodged another Shadow Ball, diving for the possessed soldier. _"**We don't have time to screw around here. We need to hurry up, get Nunnally back and FINISH THIS WAR!**" _Lelouch spat as lugia used Future Sight, trying to spot a moment in time where Jeremiah would be vulnerable. "_**How did you even know this had happened?**" _Lelouch demanded, glaring at the witch from beneath his mask.

"Lelouch." C.C. told him, dodging past Jeremiah again. "I am your accomplice. I am your friend."

"_**How can I even trust you?**_" Lelouch snarled. "_**You're just a bitch who's not even willing to explain her bullshit!**_"

"If you die, I'm screwed." C.C. pointed out as lugia unleashed an ancient-power on the screaming Jeremiah. "This is true."

"_**All this time, you're just talking about yourself.**_" Lelouch groaned as Jeremiah hurtled past, a ghostly aura in his wake. "_**Squadron three, the target is headed for your location. Lock onto him and attack him together!**_"

As the crazed soldier passed over them, the squadron burst forward and unleashed a barrage of mixed elemental attacks from their pokémon.

Jeremiah's psycho ball of fun just dodged all of their attacks easily. "**ZEEROOOOOOO!**" he shouted, launching a spear of electric energy at him. "**YOU GOLDEEEEEEEEEN!**"

"_**I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR SHIT!**_" Zero shouted, his mount launching an ancient-power at him to intercept the lightning. "_**C.C.! Head for twelve-street!**_"

"You always give orders…" she sighed, pulling on the lugia's neck to steer him.

Jiro the jirachi tried to help. It consisted of him clapping his hands animatedly to calm everyone down. Needless to say, he failed comically.

"**YOU WON'T CATCH ME!**_"_ Jeremiah shouted, dodging the lugia's Aeroblast. "**NOT ME! JEREMIAH ROTOM DE GOTTSWALD!**"

"_**Wrong, Dunsparce!**_" Zero shouted as the tower behind Jeremiah collapsed. "_**I've already got you.**_" _'Break, you has-been.'_ He added internally as the concrete crushed the rotom-infused madman.

'_No I can look for Nunnally…'_ Lelouch thought, seeing the battle take place back at Celadon Mansion. _'Damn, those two knights are holding the entire army back…'_

"_**We'll take one of them down before we go after Nunnally**_." Lelouch decided. "_**GO!**_"

* * *

Milly and Shirley creeped behind the Black Knight soldiers guarding Suzaku, trying to figure out a plan to help him escape. Before they could do anything, howver, Rivalz emerged from the shadows and grabbed their wrists.

"Are you two crazy?" he hissed. "If I hadn't been the one to spot you, the other Knights might have shot you or something!" Several other Black Knight noticed the commotion and moved to back Rivalz up.

"Rivalz… please, we have to-" began Milly, but was interrupted by a voice from above.

_\_ "GOODMOOORNING SUUUZAKU!" _\_ Lloyd's voice boomed through the night sky.

The trapped soldier, the Black Knights and the re-captured Shirley and Milly looked up in the sky to see the S.S. Rayquaza hovering over the Ashford Academy, ready to kick some ass.

The green dragon carrying the floating fortress roared as the teams of soldiers leapt from its docks, taking out the rebel soldiers with surgeon-like efficiency.

"Get some cover!" Rivalz shouted at the girls, calling out his garchomp to defend them.

Rakshad recalled her beloved wobbuffet and retreated alongside the spooked Black Knights. "Suzaku!" Cecile shouted atop her gallade. "Go to Celadon mansion, Cornelia's calling for you. We'll take it from here."

He looked at her in shock, then nodded. "Thank you, Cecile." He nodded, turning to Lancelot.

He turned to let Suzaku climb on. Now that the human had calmed down, he deserved a favour.

"Thank you, Lancelot." Suzaku told his pokémon, holding on tight. "I owe you one."

The mewtwo turned to the boy with a look that said _damn right you do kid, _before taking off into the night sky.

* * *

"There sure are a lot of these bastards, aren't they?" Steven Stone asked his fellow knight.

Noland merely glanced at him, before getting back to work typing on his S-pad, remotely controlling thirty pokémon at once, something no-one else in the world was capable of doing with even one pokémon.

Of course, since Noland had his head in the game, he was able to dodge the powerful Aeroblast that Steven did not. He swore, looking up into the sky to see Zero, standing atop the legendary beast that just killed his fellow knight.

"_**I trust you can take care of the other one, Toudou?**_" Zero asked. "_**Silver is on his way to give his support, and I'll return as soon as I can.**_"

_\_ "Alright, just do what you need to get done and get back here as soon as you can!" _\_ Toudou shouted, leading the way with his regigigas.

"_**Of course.**_" Lelouch told him. "_**I need to cut off communications with you, but you have my confidence.**_"

_\_ "Right." _\_ Toudou nodded, forcing the surviving Knight of the Round back into the mansion as Zero hung up.

* * *

Jeremiah floated through the fallen tower, then rematerialised and fell to the ground, brushing himself off absently before looking up and seeing lugia fly south.

* * *

"The battle, is going against us." Cornelia told Suzaku. "We're going to retreat to the Indigo Plateau..."

"Y-you can't be serious!" Suzaku shouted.

"Don't worry." Cornelia smirked. "My brother's army will arrive in the morning, and then we'll crush this insurrection once and for all."

She grabbed his shoulder. "Mirage Island." Cornelia gasped. "That's where Zero is going. And…" she shook her head. "No, I can't remember…"

"Geass…" Suzaku whispered.

"You're Euphie's Knight, right?" she asked him, tearing a badge from her robe. "I know you can't see her again, but please, clear her name. then…"

Cornelia pressed the badge onto Suzaku's uniform, next to Euphie's. "I'll accept you as _my own _knight." She gasped, making a sword out of a finger and tapping him on each shoulder. "It's a simple ceremony, but it'll have to do… but now, you are a true knight. None can tell you otherwise, not even his Majesty." She glared. "GO!" she ordered. "Kill Zero so he cannot lead his men against us tomorrow!"

"YES!" Suzaku nodded. "YOUR HIGHNESS!"

* * *

"FOR ZERO!" Silver shouted, pointing his spear high while riding his entei, leading the charge from Lavender town to support their fellow Black Knights. "Group four! Tend to the injured! Everyone else, FIGHT!"

"Hey, Kallen!" Inoue shouted, rushing in with her blissey. "Are you alright! Softboiled!"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine…" Kallen gasped as the blissey began closing her wounds and restoring the lost blood. "H-how's the battle..?"

"We're winning." Inoue stated as she sent out two chansey to heal the Gurren and ho-oh. "Zero's had to leave for a few hours to deal with some urgent business, which would screw us over if Silver and Toudou weren't here for us."

"I see…" Kallen sighed. "So, where's he going?"

"We don't know." Inoue said, glancing up. "But we're gonna need you to follow him and help him do his business and get back here?"

"What makes you think I can follow him?" Kallen asked, sitting up. "And why would he need my help!"

Inoue pointed upwards, where Kallen saw the Lancelot flying in a burst of green energy. "Go." Inoue said, stepping back and helping Kallen to her feet. "Help Zero."

Kallen nodded, returned her scizor and jumped onto ho-oh's back, flying after Suzaku.

* * *

With the Brittanian reinforces storming around them, Rivalz could only spare a glance to make sure Milly and Shirley made it to the evacuation mantine. Catching Milly's eyes for a moment, he gave a sad smile as a goodbye before returning to the raging fight around him.

It was one of the most brutal battles of the night. The troops of the S.S. Rayquaza were fighting tooth and nail to fight out the Black Knights, who were defending their possession of Cerulean City while all the students evacuated onto the aerial fortress.

It only stopped when all the pokémon fell to their knees and started cowering.

Even rayquaza roared and wriggled, trying to get out of its bonds.

"Easy, easy…" Lloyd comforted, calming the dragon down while glaring at the camera's showing the lack of action below. '_What the heck is going on down there?'_

Then it burst from the floor.

A mass of red and green tentacles, oozing sheer malevolence and power. The mangled remains of a nidoking and machamp were strewn around the soldiers, coating them with a spray of gore.

"NOT GOOD!" Lloyd screamed, activating the speakers. "EVERYONE! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THAT THING NOW! BLACK KNIGHTS, YOU GUYS RUN TOO!"

'_Something that made Lloyd serious?'_ Rakshad realised, almost pissing herself as she realised just how dangerous this monster could be to sober up the Earl of Pudding. "EVERYONE! GET THE HELL BACK!" she ordered.

No-one needed to be told twice. When the thing's face appeared, it was a blue mask of hate, scrutinizing every human and pokémon in the area, as if judging who among them was worthy to be killed quickly, and who to kill painfully. If from the ripples and shivers of the tentacles was any clue, it saw each and every last creature there suited only for death.

Lloyd took a deep, tense breath. "Nina… you actually created it?" he asked the bespectacled girl riding the eldritch abomination. "You managed to develop that DNA strain in that meteor…?"

"There's insufficient tests…" she admitted, stroking a green tentacle, which squirmed it's way up her arm, holding her tight. "I don't know how long deoxys can kill for before it dies… but…"

"KILL!" Milly shouted, not daring take a step in sheer fear. "What're you talking about, Nina!"

"If it is as her hypothesis predicted…" Lloyd gulped. "That thing can slaughter every single living thing in the city before it'd dry up."

"Nina…" Rivalz breathed, watching in revulsion as the grotesque mass' head began to nuzzle and nip at its creator, relishing the taste of her crumbling sanity. "What the hell did you…"

"Where is Zero?" Nina asked, a tentacle slithering up her thigh. "Tell me..! Princess Euphemia's revenge!" The abomination shivered and enveloped the girl into its mass of tentacles, basking in Nina's insane rage. "HER WILL! I WILL CARRY IT OUT!"

Deoxys burst into the air and shot its tentacles forward, launching a hundred psychic shockwaves and sharpened limbs at once at the S.S. Rayquaza. The dragon twisted to protect the mobile base and was blasted back a mile across the landscape. "TELL ME!" Nina screamed as deoxys landed on the school roof. "WHERE IS ZERO!"

* * *

Once they were in the sea, Lelouch removed his helmet and moved down lugia's back to think. _'If Nunnally is gone… then what will be the reason for all the fighting I've done until now?'_ he asked himself. _'Why did I fight this lonely war? I was even prepared to sacrifice Euphie…'_

"We've found Mirage Island." C.C. told him.

"**I'll take her back.**" Lelouch declared. "**No matter who took her, I'll save Nunnally!**"

Lugia burst from the water and shot across the island, landing respectfully at the mouth of the cave. "**So, this is the place?**" Lelouch asked C.C. "**Does this island have anything to do with you?**"

"I don't know anything about this place." C.C. replied honestly.

"**So are you saying that there are other places like this?**" Lelouch asked, before shaking his head. "**Was the one who kidnapped Nunnally a Geass user?**"

"I don't know." C.C. replied. "I'm serious." She added, seeing Lelouch's glare.

"**I believe you.**" Lelouch told her. "**At least I know our partnership in crime is continuing.**"

"Thank you." C.C. replied with a shrewd yet grateful look on her face.

She gasped and twisted around as lugia screamed, blue energy washing over them. "I see, this is a…" she started, before gasping again.

"**What!**" Lelouch shouted.

~ "A trap against invaders" ~ said C.C.'s voice inside Lelouch's mind as the images flashed past his inner eye. ~ "The ones who trigger it- Gah!" ~

They were dragged through a stream of memories, and Lelouch saw a vision of ancient tanks rolling across muddy fields. _'What is this?'_ he asked as a girl ran across his field of vision. _'A long time ago- C.C.! No…'_ he gasped as C.C. jumped into a trench. _'But…'_

"Ver sint sie!" a German soldier shouted. C.C. raised her hands submissively, but it was ignored as the soldier fired his rifle, the bullet plunging into C.C.'s brain.

He heard her scream in the back of his mind as he saw memories of her past lives, of her house being stoned, of the persecution she suffered,

How she was burnt at the stake…

'_Stop it…'_Lelouch begged, feeling the phantom pain of his partner as he saw C.C. die a thousand deaths.

Pierced by soldier's spears…

Devoured by a feral victreebel…

Beheaded by the guillotine…

Crushed and skewered by an iron maiden…

Torn apart by ursaring…

More horrors and torment than anyone could experience in a lifetime, but the most painful image was in the quiet church where C.C. lay, naked and sobbing, though he didn't know why.

He couldn't take any more. He couldn't watch one more moment of his witch in pain. "_**STOP IIIITT!**_"

* * *

Suddenly, there was release, and Lelouch found himself stripped down to his very soul in an empty world of white with her. "**C.C. … these are your…**"

"All that's left are memories of a witch." She explained sadly. "I didn't even know that I wasn't a human. The people who loved me, the people who hated me, they all disappeared with the passage of time. In the endless and forever time… I… Alone…"

"**You are not alone.**" Lelouch told her, his Geass flaring a bright red, the only colour in this world of black and white. She gasped in surprise, staring into his eyes. "**You and I are partners.**" He reminded her, insisted to her, the memories of their time together flashing around them, filling the empty world with life. "**If you are a witch, then ****I shall become**** your warlock.**"

C.C. laughed bitterly. "You always know what to say." She told him happily as the world faded out.

* * *

"**C.C., are you okay?**" Lelouch asked her once they returned to reality, both underneath lugia's stomach.

"Who the hell do you think I am?" she muttered.

Lugia's back took the blast of energy from above and Lelouch reached for his helmet and ran out from under Lugia. "**ZEEROOO!**" Jeremiah shouted. "**The time to regret is NAAOOO!**"

"**YOU ANNOYING IDIOT!**" Zero shouted, not bothering to hide his face.

"**Oh, so that's what you look like!**" Jeremiah laughed, firing a flash-cannon at them.

C.C. pushed Lelouch to the ground, pushing them both out of the way but burning her back in the process. "**LUGIA!**" Lelouch shouted from under the witch. "**AEROBLAST THE OCEAN!**"

The beast complied, and a huge blast of mist created a perfect cover. "Go save Nunnally." C.C. told him, the wound on her back already healing. "I'll hold him off… no… I have a pretty bad feeling…"

"**Hm?**"

"You must win Lelouch." C.C. told him, getting up from him. "Conquer your past."

Lelouch reached up and kissed her, which she deepened without a moment's hesitation. "**Don't die.**" He told her, breaking the kiss.

She smiled. "Who the hell do you think I am?" she asked playfully as Jeremiah burst from the ocean.

"**DON'T TAKE ME LIGHTLY!**" the madman shouted as C.C. sprinted onto the glowing lugia's back and launched into a Sky Attack, forcing the crazed noble into ocean. Lugia snatched the rotom-infused Jeremiah and dove deep beneath the waves, C.C. not even sparing a glance back at Lelouch. She didn't need to.

Lelouch smiled and ran placed the mask of Zero atop his face and ran into the chamber.

* * *

'_The trap at the entrance was only to buy some time.'_ Lelouch thought. _'Was I the target? Or was it C.C.…?' _

He stepped towards the dotted door. _'Whatever it is, I need to confirm that Nunnally is safe—'_

A fresh hole appeared in the door, and Lelouch heard footsteps behind him.

"Turn around." Suzaku ordered. "Slowly."

'_Oh for crying out loud, now!'_ Lelouch thought angrily.

"Didn't you hear me?" Suzaku asked, pointing his gun at Zero. "I'm telling you to turn around, slowly."

"_**Euphemia happily massacred defenceless Japanese!**_" Zero declared, turning around. "_**Yet, for that woman, you—**_"

"Geass sure is a convenient power." Suzaku stated, walking forward with his gun. "You hide in the dark, and give the responsibility to others. Arrogant and sly, that is who you truly are. Kallen!"

Lelouch flinched as he heard the girl gasp in fright. He glanced in the direction of the sound but couldn't make out where she was in the gloom. "Do you not want to know Zero's true identity?" Suzaku asked.

"_**She already knows.**_" Zero told him. "_**As would you if you joined with me when I invited you.**_"

Suzaku snarled. "What did you just say?"

"_**I said that there is no reason for there to be secrets among friends.**_" Zero announced, reaching up and removing his mask. "**Suzaku.**"

Suzaku stared in shock as Lelouch discarded the useless mask, then took a deep breath and tossed his gun aside. "I cannot believe this." He stated.

"**What, that I'm Zero?**" Lelouch asked. "**Leader of the Order of the Black Knights? The one who always told you that one day I would declare war on the Holy Britannian Empire? The man about to conquer the world? How did you not figure this out already?**"

"You're right; I should have arrested you earlier." Suzaku sighed.

"**Oh, so you did work it out?**" Lelouch asked.

"I didn't want to believe it at first." Suzaku replied. "So I kept myself in denial, because I wanted to believe in you. But… you kept lying, to me and Euphie." He glared. "Even to Nunnally you _lied_."

"**Yes****. I lied to protect her****.**" Lelouch told him. **"** **But now,**** Nunnally has been captured. Suzaku, can we fight later? For Nunnally, can we fight later? Together, there is nothing we can't do.**"

"Don't be so naïve." Suzaku told him, drawing a sword. "Before all this happened, you should have joined with Euphie!" he shouted, and the sword burst into blue flames. "If you had worked together with Euphie, then the world…"

"**Now who's the naïve one?**** That's in ****the **_**past**_**.**" Lelouch snarled. "**I cannot change what has happened!**** IT'S OVER! Didn't you kill your father too? Suzaku, you can regret it all you want later, but right now…**"

"_NO!_" Suzaku shouted, getting ready to run Lelouch through with his burning blade. "You betrayed the world at the very very last minute… WELL NOW THE WORLD'S BETRAYING YOU!" he shouted. "YOUR WISH WILL NEVER COME TRUE!"

"**IDIOT!**" Lelouch shouted, unleashing Red's mewtwo from its great ball. "**The world will not spin if you rely on glorious thinking!**"

Suzaku threw a master ball into the air and Lancelot charged from it, the two pokémon colliding in the air.

"**Suzaku, I want to make a deal.**" Lelouch stated as the two pokémon's energies sparked across the room. "**The person who told you about the Geass has taken Nunnally and is hiding her behind this door.**" He explained.

"These things of the future are of no concern of yours!" Suzaku shouted, his Geass forbidding him from crossing the event horizon of chaos energy that was between him and Lelouch. "THE FACT THAT YOU EXIST IS AN ERROR! YOU! ARE NOT! FIT! TO EXIST! IN THIS! _WORLD!_"

Lelouch drew his sword and charged. "**SUZAKU!**" he screamed.

"_LELOUCH!_" Suzaku shouted, ignoring his Geass and rushing into hell itself to kill his closest friend.

* * *

_Humans… exist to chase after happiness._

_A man of Britannia, what Lelouch was looking for, is just a bit of that happiness._

_It's not something special._

_The root of his actions, as a person, __are those__ very, very tiny wishes that are obvious to anyone._

_These dreams, these words, who can renounce them?_

_Who has that right?_

_But, however, no matter __who it is,__ no matter what the wish is, one cannot bind others and the world to himself._

_One can only determine one's own fate._

_If one allows the thoughts of others to go beyond that of the world, his existence is merely one which is drifting by the waves._

_Crimes and Punishment._

_Fate and Judgement._

_The thing blocking Lelouch is the past which he created._

_It is __the hatred__ between people._

_Even then, he should be __grateful__ now._

_Yes… at least… it is a fact that humans exist to pursue happiness._

_All those tiny wishes__. Concealing those __tiny yearnings._

_They are born from despair._

* * *

"**I'm not the one at fault… THE WORLD IS!**"

* * *

Yeah. I'll probably do R2 at some point. That point may even be tomorrow morning, on schedule as usual. You know, if I blow enough minds.

**Varanus:**_ Wow, what a rush. So hands up, who expected the electrode bomb? Or that Jeremiah's cyborg body is possessed by a rotom, even if it was practically spelled out yesterday? Or, hell, Deoxys? Remember, at Suzaku's knighthood party back in chapter 16? And Nina was on the computer? Who saw this coming?_

_I think we're both pretty proud of Deoxys._

From what I've written for R2 so far, I'm willing to go all out and declare Deoxys my finest achievement in writing yet. Then again, with all the awesome that happened in this chapter, I'm worried you guys will forget about the Saffron Bomb. You know, the epic trap that put the magikarp bomb to shame?_  
_

Well, phew, that was a biggie. Hope you enjoyed it, as always, review, see you in R2.

Just a warning, though, Deoxys in this story lives for one thing and one thing only. To scare the living daylights out of you. In R2, I take that job very, _**very**_ seriously.


	22. 0nly If

BEHOLD! The prequel to R2! Ending on the final episode of R2, as an added bonus.

Because I'm Niiice.

Deviate Fish, guide is a very loose term. I let the original plot guide me in Time Paradox, and I'll let that speak for itself.

To clarify, yes, the original plot shall be a pleasantly helpful guide in writing this story.

BlahHEAD, I once co-wrote a story that made Sasuke Uchiha _likable._ I make Suzaku throw fireballs. Not only will I screw him over, but even _you_ will feel bad for him.

WWDW, You still got time if you watch'em faster than I upload... so, about two episodes a day to protect you from the spontaneus double updates.

Karasu, R2 is going to be very, very, very different. The first change- two changes- three changes- you know what? This chapter is short. This chapter is subtle. But a lot of things that happen in this chapter change R2 a LOT.

Don't believe me? Look at the chapter title.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Swords clashed, and the shockwave shattered both blades and sending the weaker Lelouch flying backwards.

Suzaku leapt into the air, kicking Lelouch across the face with a spinning kick.

"ZERO!" Kallen shouted, reaching for Gurren's safari ball as Suzaku straddled atop Lelouch, rolling him onto his back and grabbing Lelouch's hands behind his back.

"I wouldn't," a voice said behind her, a deathly tight grip on her shoulder. She snarled and shrugged it off, rushing to save Lelouch.

Suzaku aimed a fireball at her. "HE'S LELOUCH!" he barked at her, lifting his friend up against the wall. "The man who used the Japanese… _And You!_ Do you want to protect this kind of man!"

Lelouch's eyes, burning with his geass, met Kallen's stricken face, and he mouthed an order to her. One word.

Suzaku then threw Lelouch to the floor as Kallen turned and ran.

Lelouch smirked.

"Zero." Suzaku stated, pointing a broken blade at Lelouch's neck, mewtwo's still battling each other for dominance. "I will bring an end to you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

Lelouch sat up to see better but was kicked to the ground by Suzaku as Red walked forward, ignoring the fleeing Kallen. "Look, mate, I see you're angry, but I can't let you kill him." The grandmaster explained to Suzaku, recalling his mewtwo. "Sorry." He shrugged as Lancelot fell forwards, suddenly lacking an opposing force.

"**How long have you been there?**" Lelouch snarled. "**No… WHAT DID YOU DO WITH NUNNALLY!**"

"I didn't touch her." Red stated, stepping over Lelouch as he walked over to the stone doors behind him. "But you were right when you said that the one responsible is behind this door. **Yield.**" Red ordered, and the doors opened, revealing a floating platform above a golden sky.

"Bring your prisoner in, Jappo." Red smirked. "Someone I'd like you to meet."

* * *

Suzaku slammed Lelouch to the floor as he knelt before the emperor. "Former Eleventh Successor To My Throne, Lelouch Vi Britannia." The emperor declared with a powerful, forceful voice. "It Has Been A While, My Son."

"**Why, you—**" Lelouch snarled before getting his head slammed into the ground by Suzaku.

"I won't let you use your Geass." Suzaku hissed, before turning to the emperor. "Your highness, I have a request. Please let me join the Empire's most elite twelve knights, the Knights of the Round."

"You Ask As A Reward For Capturing Zero?" the emperor boomed.

"**You…**" Lelouch growled.

"I told you before." Suzaku told his friend. "I want to change the world from within."

"**By selling your friend to get promoted!**" Lelouch screamed.

"That's exactly what I'm doing." Suzaku pointed out.

The emperor smirked. "Very Well." He said. "I Admire Your Answer."

"Good thing the position of Knight of Five just opened up." Red pointed out. "You should thank your friend, Suzaku."

"Thank you, Lelouch." Suzaku told him grimly.

"Stop It, My Son." The emperor told Red.

"**What! ****Son!**" Lelouch shouted, twisting on the floor to face Red.

"Yes, My Son! The Thirteenth Prince Of Britannia!" Emperor Charles declared as Red removed his cap and bowed to Lelouch, almost sarcastically. "Ashford Vi Britannia! The Second Son Born Of Marianne And I! YOUR BROTHER, LELOUCH!"

"**N-no…**" Lelouch gasped. "**I REMEMBER!**** YOU DIED!**"

"That's what you memory wiped him to believe?" Red- no, Ashford asked the Emperor with a groan. "Man, no imagination whatsoever… ah well." Both his Geass's flared up. "**I want you to do something for me.**"

"Oh? And What Is It?" Charles asked, sounding amused.

"**Give Lelouch to me.**" He beseeched the emperor.

Lelouch gasped as his father smirked. "You Are A Most Impressive Son, Ashford." Charles said. "And Your Brother, The Disgusting Whelp That He Is, Was Capable Of Throwing An Entire Area Into Disarray. Were It Not For His Weakness For That Pathetic Sister Of His, Area Eleven Would Still Be His-"

"**DON'T TALK ABOUT NUNNALLY LIKE THAT!**" Lelouch bellowed at his father.

"Speaking of my sister…" the thirteenth prince hissed through clenched teeth. "Where is she?" Red asked the emperor angrily. Lelouch glanced back at the knight to see Ashford almost equally as outraged as he himself was.

"I Have Use Of Her." The emperor sneered. "But You May Have This Whelp. Seal His Right Eye." He ordered Suzaku, who complied.

"Lelouch." Charles Di Britannia told his son, both of his Geass's flaring up. "**I Will Rewrite Your Memories. About The Fact That You Were Zero, About Marianne, About Nunnally…**"

"**WHERE DID YOU GET THE GEASS!**" Lelouch demanded.

"**Forget Everything And Become A Normal Pokémon Trainer With Your Brother.**" The Emperor ordered.

"**STOP!**" Lelouch screamed, trying to close his left eye as Suzaku held it open. "**YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE EVERYTHING FROM ME AGAIN! MOTHER! EVEN NUNNALLY!**"

"**Charles Di Britannia Shall Engrave…**" the emperor continued as Lelouch screamed. "**Your New, False Memories.**"

"**AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!**"

* * *

Kallen returned to the captured Celadon Mansion to report that Zero had been captured…

A day too late.

The Black Knights had been obliterated by the Britannian army. They had reclaimed their briefly stolen land, slaughtering all but the leaders of the Black Knights, except those who managed to escape.

She then watched as the Emperor held a live video-broadcast and used his Geass on everyone in Kanto, rewriting their memories to accommodate the new memories he had given Lelouch.

His eyes had looked like Lelouch's had been in the cave, burning bright with unnatural power. Was this what Suzaku had been talking about? Geass?

She had enough sense to look away and cover her ears before her memories were taken over too, and she managed to protect all the important memories.

Soldiers raided Ashford academy and any of Lelouch's safe-houses, destroying any evidence to his royal blood, to the Geass, to Zero,

Of Nunnally…

Kallen met up with the escaping Rivalz, who was leading the group of fourteen foot soldiers who managed to escape from the various attacks. Apparently Diethard had taken a load of men with him to China, but not this fifteen.

They would have to survive on their own…

* * *

Lelouch Lamperouge returned to school with many of the other refugees a week later, only this time, he stopped by an apartment near the campus after school.

He entered it and placed a duffel bag on his table before heading the fridge and opening some poffins as he let out his pokémon. "Alright everyone." He sighed, setting out his metagross, alakazam, lucario, sandslash, crobat, relicanth. "Enjoy."

He then opened grabbed a plastic microwave meal, stabbed the film lid a couple of times, then bunged it into the microwave.

Lelouch left it to hum as he walked over to the TV, turning on the news.

_\_ "After last week's chaos caused by the terrorists brief takeover of Area Eleven, normal Britannian rule has been restored." _\_ the reported on the TV announced as Lelouch heard a knock on the door, and walked over to answer it. _\_ "Refugees from the destroyed Saffron City are still living in temporary accommodations, but still--" _\_

Lelouch opened the door and was greeted with a bone-shattering high-five. "Hey, Lellow!" Red declared with a huge grin, rucksack over his left shoulder and a pikachu on his right.

"Ash!" Lelouch shouted, his face lighting up instantly. "Come on, how long has it been!"

"Eh, couple of months or something." Ashford replied. "I travel a lot."

"You sure do, Knight of One." Lelouch replied proudly. "How've you been?"

"Eh, the usual. Who cares? I wanna hear about you, brother." Ash replied. "More importantly, how long can I crash at your place for?"

"So long as you like, as long as you don't bring any more girlfriends over." Lelouch joked, muting the news as he led the way into his living room.

"So, three days then?" the younger boy joked. "Nah, seriously. I'm enrolling in the Ashford Academy after the summer break."

Lelouch almost choked on his drink. "Seriously?" he asked his younger brother. "How long for?"

"Until I can get you expelled." Red chuckled, leaning forward conspiratorially. "They're gonna be starting a double's league in Cambodia in a couple of years, so I want you to come with me."

"Me?" Lelouch asked. "I'm flattered, shouldn't you ask one of your fellow knights?"

"Weirdo's, the lot of 'em." Ash shrugged. "Besides, do brothers need an excuse to live together?"

"You're going to put me and my pokémon through training from hell, aren't you?" Lelouch groaned.

Red punched him playfully on the arm. "Damn right I am."

* * *

"I Dub Thee White Reaper Suzaku Kururugi, Knight Of Five!" Emperor Charles decreed, setting his broadsword aside. "Rise, Knight Of Five!"

"Yes." Suzaku said, rising to his feet. "Your highness."

* * *

After an evening of swapping stories, Lelouch gave his brother a guided tour of the school. "Over here is the marker girl." Lelouch guided. "Every day, at the same time, this girl takes her smeargle and makes a mark on this wall. No-one knows why, and she denies flat out that it's here doing it, but she does it all the same."

"Whoa, that's freaky." Ash whistled, not meeting his brother's gaze.

"Hey, Lulu!"

Ash and Lelouch turned around to see a girl with long-ginger hair running up to them. "Where've you been? I've been looking all over for you!" she pouted, handing Lelouch a lunchbox shyly. "Here's your lunch…" she mentioned.

"You're a lifesaver Shirley!" Lelouch told her. "Shirley, this is my brother, Ashford."

"Eh?" she asked. "Like, as in the academy?"

"My mom and the president's mom were friends." Lelouch explained. "That's why I get free tuition. Anyway, Ash is transferring in next month." Lelouch clapped his hands over his head. "Please can you make some lunches for him too? You know I can't cook…"

"I'm actually fairly competent…" Ash explained awkwardly. "I mean, I did spend six months living on top of mount silver…"

"What, as in that psycho place where the wild pokémon eat ursaring?" Shirley laughed as Lelouch covered his brother's mouth.

"Haha, he's just kidding…" Lelouch laughed, dragging him off. "Excuse us…"

* * *

"Do you _want_ people to know that you're the Grandmaster!" Lelouch hissed. "Your identity's normally hidden under your hat, so no-one knows your actual face, didn't you come here for some normal school life?"

"Not really." Red smirked. "I told you, I want to get us both kicked out by the end of the year so we can take the Cambodia league together."

"Is that why you released twenty-three rattata into the bakery and fourteen tentacool into the pool?"

"Eh?" Ash asked as Lelouch poured a small pile of shrunken pokéballs of various varieties out of his bag.

"You can't pull that innocent game with me." Lelouch told him. "I know I'm keeping a friendly face in front of everyone else, so I can tell when you are. I'll go through your training at home, but **you are going to behave at school, understand?**" Lelouch snarled, Geass unconsciously humming in his right eye.

Red grinned. "Alright." He lied to his brother. "I'll be good."

* * *

C.C. rode lugia through the ocean after Jeremiah had passed out and fizzled out of existence.

She knew what had happened, and, all in all, the situation could be much worse.

Lelouch had been spayed, so to speak. His memories sealed, no Nunnally, no mother to avenge, no father to kill, Lelouch had no drive, and was a lazy shell of his former self.

Ashford didn't want that. He was determined to fix that.

That was one thing C.C. was thankful for. Lelouch had only forgotten his Geass, he could still access it sometimes, and once they restore his memories, it will be back completely.

And he was still alive.

No, more than that. Red shared his brother's hate of Britannia, even if they had different motives for doing so.

But more than anything, Red wants Lelouch to be strong.

Because Red can only defy Britannia.

Lelouch can destroy it.

C.C. smirked as Jiro began rubbing her shoulders in the bubble protecting them from the abyss, not that any of them needed it. "Thank you." She told her pokémon. "Now let's get to work making that lens."

* * *

"Alright Lellow, these are called bokken." Ash explained that weekend, handing Lelouch a curved wooden pole. "They were used as sword training tools back when this place was Japan."

"I thought we were doing pokémon training?" Lelouch asked nervously.

"We are." Red told him. "How do you expect pokémon to follow a human if he isn't prepared to take a few lumps himself? In a battle, a king should always lead, right?"

Lelouch looked down at the weapon, then got into a fencing stance. "Right."

Ash smiled. "Not how you hold it." He pointed out, knocking it out of his brother's hands with ease. "Tighter, with both hands, legs wide. That's it." Red smiled as his brother got into the correct stance. "Now, Hit me."

Lelouch ran towards his brother and got hit in the ribs by his bokken, knocking him to the ground. "You're a thinker Lelouch." Red told him. "Use that head of yours and fight me."

He got to his feet, wincing, then got ready to fight again, this time analysing the situation and predicting his brother's movements before attacking.

"One all." Red smiled. "Good, good, again!"

* * *

And so, time passed…

Nine months, even.

But at this time, he was ready.

He didn't know it yet, but he was ready.

For the second Black Rebellion.

* * *

Lelouch Lamperouge, the boy who once struck fear into all of Britannia, was walking down the corridor of school.

"Lelouch."

"Ah, sorry!" he apologised, turning to his P.E. teacher, Villetta Nu.

"You're quite annoying." She told him. "I won't let you get away any-HEY!"

Lelouch was already legging it down the corridor.

"Hey, about that battle-" a green-haired boy began.

"Sorry Drew!" Lelouch shouted hurriedly as he ran. "Next time!"

"Hold it Lelouch!" his teacher shouted, sprinting after him.

"Go vice-president!" Lelouch's fan-club cheered, watching him go.

"Yeah, yeah." He sighed, twisting into a darkened science lab.

Villetta blocked the exit. "Your loss was made apparent when you challenged a P.E. teacher to a battle of fitness." She told him.

"Don't you think you're over exaggerating?" Lelouch asked him. "It's just a make-up lesson."

"Then come to class like you should." She told him.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with my physical capabilities." Lelouch told her, twiddling a conical flask on its stand. "After all, my brother puts me through hell and back every morning and evening just so I can wrestle a machoke to the ground."

"Don't get funny with me, boy." Villetta sneered as Lelouch poured the mixture into another one, creating life.

"_Grimaaahh!" _

Villetta instinctively flinched from the toxic sludge as Lelouch vaulted the table and ran right past her. "Hey, get back here!" she shouted, kicking the grimer in the face and chasing after him.

"Go for it, slave boy!" Milly cheered from above as Lelouch slid down the banister rails, tossing him a RageCandyBar.

"Ah, thank you!" Lelouch replied, tearing the packaging open with his teeth and continuing his escape.

"And you call yourself the student council president!" Villetta shouted at her.

"Sorry!" Milly lied. "I just…"

Villetta grunted, and ran for the window, jumping out. "LELOUCH!" she shouted, leaping for the boy, landing on his back as he ran under the window.

She smiled with the satisfaction of capturing her prey.

"That wasn't very nice," the boy under her asked, twisting around and removing his wig. "Miss."

"Rolo..?" she asked in shock, before standing up and looking at Lelouch and Ashford jump onto their crobat and pidgeot and fly out of the school.

"Thanks mate!" Ashford shouted, tossing the RageCandyBar down to Rolo as he flew. "I owe you one!"

Villetta scowled at Rolo, who just shrugged, munching on the candy.

* * *

"Honestly, that woman…" Lelouch groaned, flying through the sky. "Can't she at least give me my freedom once school's out?"

"What freedom?" Ash asked. "And it's your fault for skiving so much."

"Hey, I need to sleep sometime." He pointed out.

'_It's been almost a year since the Black Rebellion that Zero started was crushed.'_ Lelouch thought to himself. _'I was in Viridian getting my badge at the time so I wasn't too caught up in it, but everyone back at the academy was taken hostage while I was gone.  
'Area Eleven has settled down as well. Back during the incident, rumours were breeding like magikarp. I even considered just leaving with Ash at one point…' _

"Did you submit your future course inquiry thingy?" Ash asked his brother, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Villetta was pretty pissed about it."

"Ah." Lelouch smirked.

"Are you going to college?"

"I haven't decided ye-"

"WRONG ANSWER!" Ash shouted, ramming his pidgeot into crobat playfully.

"Well, I am pretty tired of being a student." Lelouch recovered. "But the thought of being used by someone else is just…"

"So become a professional trainer!" Ash shouted. "Come on, I'll take you under my wing, we'll rock the world!"

"You're still at that, huh?" Lelouch smiled. "But you have a point. Otherwise, I'd just be pieced into the hierarchy made by adults."

'_The Elevens lost.'_ Lelouch thought to himself, his gaze passing a news broadcast of a mass-execution of Elevens. _'They held onto power for just five hours before the Britannian forces came and wiped them out. They had no power. If those Black Knights hadn't risen up, then things wouldn't be so bad for the others right now.'_

'_Well, after what they did to Saffron, they deserve it.'_ Lelouch glared. _'Zero. You truly were an idiot. No matter what you do, this world won't change…'_

* * *

"Here we are." Ash told Lelouch as they landed in the outskirts of olivine city.

Outside the Trainer Tower.

"Alright, you know what to do." Red told him, handing him the briefcase full of money.

"Go in, kick ass, come out with twice as much." Lelouch smirked, walking towards the building. "This'll be fun."

The two boys went inside and entered the lift to the twenty-third floor.

The place was like a casino- a place where trainers just relaxed and challenged each other to battles in the upper floors.

Only those who had at least eight badges were even welcomed in here.

Hell, you needed to be a competent trainer just to work behind the bar.

"Alright." Lelouch smirked, browsing the room. "Let's see who looks like fu-"

"Ah, I'm sorry!" shouted the red-head in a pink playboy buneary costume who just bumped into him, spilling cocktails over his school jacket. "Forgive me!"

"No, it's all right." Lelouch told her as she began rubbing his clothes with a cloth in terrified obedience.

"I am an Eleven." She told him, not looking at his face. "You are a Britannian student."

"Then, all the more." Lelouch told her, kneeling down to her level. "I don't like brandishing power without status."

"But, people with no power must bear it with patience." The girl told him with a shy smile. "Even if it's towards the wrong people."

"Don't push your values onto me!" Lelouch snapped with a mix of anger and sadness.

"Please forgive me." She replied, covertly flicking a tiny electronic device out with her fingers for him to take.

A rough hand grabbed her by the hair before she could plant it and dragged her up, making her drop the device. "Let me take a look at your face." The man told her, squatting for a better look. After a second of leering, his eyes wandered downwards. "Hmm… nice merchandise…" he smirked, looking at his mates who had gathered three more girls.

"I'm happy that your buneary scouting today has resulted in so many fine prizes, sir!" a grovelling butler grinned.

"I- I'm not merchandise!" the redhead protested.

"Yes you are." The man grabbing her growled. "People do not win have no rights."

"So, that follows that the ones who do win have rights over those who lose?" Lelouch asked.

"Dude, he's from the mafia." Ash hissed, but Lelouch waved him aside.

"So, if I battle you and win, then I get all the girls you've acquired so far?" the older boy asked the tattooed man.

"Oh?" the man chuckled. "And what will you do when you lose?"

Lelouch slammed the briefcase onto a table and flipped it open, revealing the money inside. "I think that this should cover it." He sneered.

The man sneered. "Kid, you don't know who you're dealing with."

"I think I do, Crusher Wake."

"Oh?" Wake laughed. "You challenge me knowing who I am?"

"You'd make a decent opponent for by debut." Lelouch smirked. "Shall we go?"

Wake grinned. "Very well." He laughed, calling a lift down. "But since this isn't a gym battle, I'll go all out and crush you, kid."

* * *

Five minutes later, Lelouch returned alone. "Release the girls." He declared to Wake's cronies. "No sick games for you lot tonight."

The girls could hardly believe the luck, but gasped happily and returned to work.

Outside of Trainer Tower, Wake would have just had them all killed.

Inside the tower, however, victory is everything.

Wake stormed out of the elevator, glaring furiously at Lelouch, unable to do anything. The teen merely grinned, relishing his victory over the arrogant Leader.

Then the tower shook. "Terrorists!" somebody screamed.

The red-head pulled the ears off her costume and punched the goon holding her, before jumping into the air and kicking him in the face, shattering his jaw. Pulling a shrunken safari ball from her cleavage, she unleashed her scizor, which sped across the room and took out two more of Wake's men.

"Come on!" she shouted, grabbing Lelouch's wrist as people ran screaming. "This way!"

"H-hey!" Lelouch protested as the roof was torn down.

Regirock and raikou burst into the room, roaring with rage as the remnants of the Black Knights stormed the tower, unleashing their pokémon and gunning down any that tried to stop them.

'_What..?'_ Lelouch gasped. _'What is happening… WHAT IS HAPPENING!'_

Before he fully decended into panic, he felt a calming presence in the back of his mind, similar to how his metagross and alakazam communicated, but far stronger. Turning, he looked up to see a brilliant silver pokémon lightly descend before him, towering above him.

Lelouch stared at it in awe. "You are…"

"LUUUUGIA!" It screeched, flapping its arms wide before lowering itself to Lelouch.

As if it was_ kneeling._

And Lelouch couldn't understand why he was so certain it was kneeling to _him._

Suddenly bullets began to rip through the air, snapping Lelouch away from his thoughts.

"COME ON!" Red shouted, grabbing his brother and dragging him away from the girl as Britannian soldiers burst into the place and started killing everyone in sight, Britannians and Elevens alike.

The lugia created a force field to protect Lelouch and Ashford, and Red dragged the shocked Lelouch away.

* * *

Kallen rushed into an alleyway, grabbed a jacket from a corpse, and pulled the shrunken rainbow ball from between her chest, returning her beloved Gurren.

She needed something with a _little_ more firepower now.

* * *

"ASH!" Lelouch shouted, running into a room and closing the heavy door just as his brother leapt in through the gap.

'_What's going on..?'_ Lelouch asked, trying to catch his breath. _'Why did that pokémon protect me..?'_

"Got a plan Lellow?" Ash asked.

"Thinking of one." Lelouch replied, glancing around to get a bearing on his surroundings. It seemed their temporary sanctuary was a zone of the tower still under construction. "Okay, let's see… We can definitely escape from this alive, the question is just _how..?_"

"THERE HE IS!" a voice yelled from one of the upper tiers, and gunfire rained down on them.

Lelouch instinctively pushed his brother back as a bullet from above hit his shoulder, forcing him off the ledge. "LELLOW!" Red shouted, reaching out for him, their fingers brushing as Lelouch fell.

Lelouch sent out his crobat to save him, but the bat took several bullets to the wings, only managing to get Lelouch to the bottom of the tower's frame before fainting.

"ASH!" Lelouch shouted, returning his pokémon. "GET OUT WITHOUT ME! I'LL MEET YOU BACK HOME!"

He didn't hear a reply, and his pokénav had no signal.

So he gritted his teeth and ran for the stairs, clutching his bleeding shoulder.

* * *

Soon enough, Lelouch found the trail of bodies.

Elevens, Britannians, all dead regardless.

One of the girls he'd saved earlier was dead, clutching a bloodstained photograph of Zero.

"They're still clinging onto him…" Lelouch gasped, before turning around and vomit at the sight. Before he totally spilled his guts out, however, he felt that same calming consciousness at the edge of his mind, easing his fear and revulsion.

"Lelouch."

He twisted around to see a girl in a white suit and long green hair standing atop the lugia from before. She was… too familiar… "We've come for you." She told him. "Lelouch. I am your ally. Your enemy is Britannia."

Lelouch gasped in confusion as the girl glared. "You made a pact with me, did you not?" she asked him. "We are accomplices."

"Pact?" Lelouch asked, getting up and wiping his mouth. "Accomplices?"

"Only I know who you truly are." She told him.

"Who I… truly am..?" Her words meant something, he knew in his soul, and before he realised it, Lelouch had began walking towards the girl and her mount tentatively as she reached out her hand.

**TOUN**

The girl began to fall, blood seeping from her chest. "L-Lelouch…" she gasped.

"HEY!" he shouted, catching her as she fell. "DON'T DIE ON ME!"

Then he noticed the twelve soldiers and their pokémon.

One was holding a smoking gun.

"The… Britannian army..?" Lelouch gasped as four of the soldiers walked into the corpses with their magmar and began torching the bodies. "Wait, what're you—"

"AAAAGGHH!" a woman and her child screamed, doused in magmar's flames.

"STOP IT!" Lelouch screamed. "THEY'RE STILL ALIVE!"

**DAKKA**

Not anymore they weren't.

"Thank you for your role in all this." The officer in charge told the horrified teenager. "Lelouch Lamperouge."

The Lugia roared, but was unable to move as it was trapped in a pentagram of five wobbuffet. Glowing threads linked their hearts to the silver guardian, and it knew better than to attack while it was trapped by a Destiny Bond.

"Role..?" Lelouch asked angrily. "What're you talking about!"

"We've been watching you all this time." The officer boasted, pulling out a notebook. "6:59, wake up. 7:09, feed pokémon. 7:12, watch news and have breakfast with brother. No opinion on the content of the news, but complain about how your pokémon eat better than you. 8:45, go to school. Skip homeroom and first period to sleep on the roof. Period two, physics…"

"That's… my schedule for today…" Lelouch gasped, utterly freaked out.

"Call it a day-care log." The officer bragged, closing the book. "For the bait."

"Bait?"

"Or perhaps you would call it a trap." The officer shrugged. "A trap to lure out that witch, C.C."

"WAIT!" Lelouch shouted desperately, clutching the dead girl. "WHAT'RE YOU TALKING ABOUT!"

"I am a Baron." The officer sneered. "I have no intention to talk to bait any longer. Now is the time for your execution. There are no longer any witnesses."

"Execution..?" Lelouch managed. _'Is this… my end? Will I die without knowing anything?'_

"No…" Lelouch growled. "Not a chance!" '_If only I had power… power to get through this… POWER TO GO AGAINST THIS WORLD!'_

Then he felt someone grip his arm.

He looked down, and the girl he thought was a corpse reached up and kissed him.

_~ 'Do you want power?'_ ~ her voice asked him. ~ _'If you want power, you already possess it. It's merely trapped inside a pokéball you never thought to open. Remember… who you really are… Reclaim the power of the king…' ~_

* * *

**BREAK THIS WORLD OF LIES AND CLAIM WHAT IS YOURS**

* * *

"**Before you execute me, answer me this question.**" Lelouch asked the guards, standing up amongst the flames while keep his head low.

"That woman's still alive!" the baron shouted, seeing C.C. stand next to Lelouch. "Impossible, we shot her through the heart!"

"**If powerlessness is a sin,**" Lelouch asked, stepping forward as C.C. stepped back to grant him some space. "**Then is power Justice? Is revenge a sin? Is friendship enough for Justice?**"

"There is neither sin nor justice." The Baron smirked. "All that remains for the bait is the truth known as death."

"**I see.**" Lelouch nodded, stopping in his stride. "**Then, all of you shall leave behind that truth.** **Lelouch Vi Britannia commands you,**" he raised a hand and swung it to his side. "**All Of You! DIE!**"

"YES! YOUR! HIGHNESS!"

**DAKKADAKKADAKKA**

* * *

_From that day on, I was never satisfied in my heart. _

_The fabricated life that didn't make any sense. _

_The time that slipped by._

_A life of a mareep given false memories._

_However, the truth unconsciously beckoned me…_

* * *

"**YES!**" Lelouch shouted as the bodies of his enemies burnt, their pokémon running wild and his lugia roaring in triumph. "**It is not I who was wrong! IT WAS THE WORLD!**"

Ho-oh burst through the roof, Kallen leaping from its neck with three other Black Knights and kneeling in reverence. "**The world shall change.**" Lelouch stated.

"We've been waiting for you." Rivalz stated behind his disheveled hair and blue beard as he knelt amongst the burning bodies.

"Lord Zero. Please, give us your orders." Urabe said, head low.

"**Very well!**" Lelouch stated. "**For I am Zero! The destroyer of worlds! The creator of new worlds! Let this rotten world BURN!** **I shall serve as the SCION OF THE NEW DAWN!**"

"YES!" His knights shouted. "LORD! ZERO!"

* * *

"KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND!" Emperor Charles Di Britannia declared to the eleven men and women knelt before his throne. "ZERO HAS BEEN REBORN! WHO SHALL KILL HIM!"

"Let it be I, your highness." Suzaku said as he stepped forward. "Knight of Five, your White Reaper."

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

YES! THIS! IS! WHAT I WRITE!

Man, for a minute there, I bet you didn't think that this chapter would hold any epic, did you?

Just so you know, in the first draft, Rivalz had dreadlocks, but Varanus said that it was too epic. Or something, I couldn't really hear him over the sound of how EPIC I AM!

_**Varanus**__: Yeah, yeah, keep talking. Dreadlocks take a lot of time and effort to maintain, I'm told. Disheveled rebel look is just as epic, especially considering he'd spent the past nine months surviving solely on pure, weapons-grade badass (seriously, that's what his arm runs with). _

_He's too busy kicking ass and escaping capture by the skin of his teeth to care about haircuts!_

Still would've been cool... I'm not talking about tight braid dreads here, I mean big thick Bob Marley dreads. Ah well.

Also, I foreshadowed Lelouch having a brother. Remember chapter 17? When Lelouch mentioned that he once had a brother?

I like to give characters long lost siblings apparently. Now, if Fairly English Story, that was just some added niceness that helped out later on, but in this one, it'll be integral to the new plot.


	23. Monster Reborn

Technically, that was last chapter, but in this story, the title is much more appropriate here, as you'll find out.

Man, don't you wish I could spoiler tag author notes?

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"**C.C.**" Lelouch told her after giving everyone their orders and recollecting his memories.

"I wasn't me who gave that man his Geass." C.C. explained, referring to the emperor.

"**What of Nunnally?**" he asked.

"I could have searched for your sister," C.C. admitted. "But the Black Knights were all but destroyed shortly after you were captured."

"**And what happened to Sayako?**"

"She escaped to the Chinese Federation with Diethard and many of the Black Knights." C.C. replied, walking towards him. "That woman does not know Zero's identity, so she would not have known of Nunnally's importance. There was nothing she could have done about it, right?"

"**I will find out who gave the Emperor his Geass and search for Nunnally.**" Lelouch decided, before realising something. "**I had a sister, but I never had a brother…**"

"Yes, you did." C.C. sighed.

Lelouch twisted to face her. "**What!**"

"When he was eight years old, in the weeks before your mother's murder, he stole a Geass from me." C.C. explained in a flat tone, not giving Lelouch any chance to interrupt. "Using it, he ordered the Emperor to erase his existence and place him in a foster home so he could earn power on his own. I never saw him again until last year, at the school festival."

Lelouch glared. "**How does one steal a Geass?**" he asked.

"The same way one gives them- with a kiss." C.C. told him.

Lelouch frowned at her reply. "**So, is Ashford my-**"

"Yes." C.C. nodded. "The child Marianne had between you and Nunnally."

"**How do you know this?**"

"I was somewhat close with your mother." C.C. told Lelouch. "However, I felt it… inappropriate to bring up before now. And before you shout, perhaps I should have told you sooner." She added, cutting him off before he could retaliate. "However, I am telling you now, and you understand my need for secrets, do you not?"

Lelouch sighed. "**I tolerate them ****for a reason,**** you immortal witch.**" He answered, walking over to his lugia and patting its face. The beast cooed oddly, happy for the reunion with its master, earning an amused smirk from Lelouch despite himself. "**Keeping secrets to maintain the life you lead. I know what it's like, and ****I don't want to have to hear ****justifications**** from you.**"

C.C. smiled. "Good to have you back, Lelouch."

* * *

Rivalz smashed down a wall, grabbing the Britannian soldier who was gunning down fleeing trainers by the face with his mechanical arm. "Die." He growled, launching a wave of radiation to completely melt his face.

"This corridor is clear," Rivalz reported, dropping the corpse and watching the solder's pokémon flee upon their master's death.

_\_ "**Well done, R-1.**" _\_ Lelouch's voice from the radio told him. _\_ "**Head to the 21st floor now.**" _\_

"Come on, garchomp!" Rivalz ordered, beckoning the shark-dragon to follow him as he charged. He put his fears about Lelouch to the back of his mind- they had already agreed Kallen would be the one to confront him.

And eliminate him, if what they feared was true.

* * *

"**P-4, seal off the staircase.**" Lelouch ordered. "**R-5, aim your attacks 30 degrees to your left. N-1, advance 50 metres and launch a hydro pump at the ceiling.**"

Lelouch chuckled at the computer screen displaying the battle's progress. The broken remnants of his old force were rejuvenated by his leadership, and were now no longer surviving, but _winning._

"**Governor Calares should be coming out soon.**" Lelouch told his lugia. Lugia, however, was staring at the entrance of the makeshift command room. Lelouch spun in the swivel chair he was in to face his visitor.

"Things appear to be going smoothly." Kallen said coolly, standing at the doorway with a neutral expression.

"**Didn't I tell you to go to the 22nd floor?**" Lelouch asked her.

"I wanted to be near you." She told him, slinking towards him as a small explosion was heard below them. "We're finally alone now…"

Her Kingler then appeared on the table between them and held its massive pincer to Lelouch's throat, ready to obliterate his head.

Lelouch chuckled darkly, removing his pokénav. "**You, ****who before obeyed me and**** abandoned Zero in Mirage Island, have something to say to me?**" he asked her, urging his lugia to be calm. Only his mental assurances and the beast's long-time respect for Ho-oh's trainer prevented Kallen from becoming a bloody smear on the wall.

Of course, she knew this, but it didn't matter. She needed answers. "Lelouch… you were lying to me all this time…" she told him.

"**I revealed my identity to you near the beginning, so I assume that you are referring to the Geass.**" Lelouch deducted.

"Did you use the Geass on me as well?" Kallen demanded with a glare.

Lelouch smirked and turned to face the screen, watching the battle unfold. "**My Geass allows me to force any person obey any order I give them once.**" He explained to her. "**So, I can only give someone one order. I found that out when I tried to Geass you a second time.**"

"_What_…" she hissed, fist shaking.

Lelouch's smirk never faded as he turned his gaze to her kingler. **"I'm curious. Why kingler? Surely Gurren would be just as good a choice to hold me hostage like this."**

"Gurren was… she was yours, before," Kallen said, swallowing a lump in her throat at the memory of the trade. Damn him and damn his emotional manipulation. He knew what Gurren meant to her. "She would never threaten you, never follow the order to harm you. She's still loyal to you."

"**And you're not?" **asked Lelouch, returning his gaze to her.** "As far as I see it, you are quite similar to Gurren in that respect. Strong, fierce, loyal…"**

"AM I?" Kallen yelled. "Am I loyal? Is Rivalz loyal? Or are we just- STOP SMILING!"

**"Kallen. ****Remember, back in the academy, on that day we first met face to face? When I asked you not to tell anyone about Shinjuku?**" Lelouch asked her. There was a jolt of realization in her eyes that told him she did recall it. "**I used the Geass on you earlier to make you answer my questions about Sableye. That was when I found out about the limitations of the Geass. I then ****used it on**** Rivalz to perform ****some small thing in order to test this. Star jumps, if I remember it right****.**"

He looked at her in the eyes, and she found her gaze drawn into his burning right eye. "**Both of you are completely safe from my power. Your heart belongs to you. You followed Zero out of your own will, be it through loyalty, admiration,**" he took a step forward. "**Everything…**"

"Don't Move!" Kallen shouted, her kingler's smaller claw snapping menacingly.

"**Kallen, be proud of yourself.**" Lelouch told her. "**By confronting me, by questioning yourself, you have given yourself all the proof you need.****You have made your decision. You have chosen… me.**" He said. "**Don't believe it?**"

"I want to believe…" Kallen said, withdrawing her Kingler with a sigh and looking away. "That's why… even if it means becoming your slave…"

"**I see.**" Lelouch told her.

"But, I believe in Zero." Kallen snapped. "Not some sly, mind-controlling freak like you, Lelouch."

"**Oh, that's fine.**" Lelouch told her. "**Besides, I promised myself never to force unending obedience onto someone.**" Lelouch added. "**That'd be just wrong. Like the fact that you're still in that buneary costume.**" He added, turning back to face the monitor. "**Not that I'm complaining. It looks good on you.**"

"D-DON'T LOOK AT ME YOU PERVERT!" she shrieked, turning away and tugging the tattered jacket over her chest.

"**That's not the kind of language you use towards Lord Zero-**"

"I'm talking to Lelouch right now!" Kallen shouted.

"**Right, okay.**" Lelouch smirked. "**Honestly, you're acting like you just found out I was Lelouch too.**" He picked up his beeping pokénav. "**What's happening?**"

_\_ "Britannia has reinforcements." _\_ C.C. reported. _\_ "A _lot_ of reinforcements." _\_

Lelouch twisted around to see a huge mass of enemy ships approaching the tower on the radar. "**Thanks Kallen.**" He told her. "**I **_**could**_** have been planning a way around this instead of talking with you, but **_**nooo.**_"

"Lelouch, stop whining and do something Zero would do." Kallen snapped, running over to the monitors. "Damn… they're coming on from above too…"

He sighed, removing the half-incinerated jacket from her shoulders and replacing it with his own. "**It's a good thing I think three moves ahead.**" Lelouch told her. "**Because now escape is next to impossible.**" He grinned. "**So I win.**"

"Eh?" Kallen asked.

"**Our enemy believes that his victory is inevitable now.**" Lelouch explained, undoing the top button of his shirt and swinging onto lugia's back. "**All the conditions for victory are being cleared one at a time. All that's left is your floor, right C.C.?**"

_\_ "It'll be ready in ten minutes." _\_ C.C. explained.

"**Good.**" Lelouch told her. "**Then we will be able to hold our positions.**"

"Hold on!" Kallen shouted at him. "What orders!"

"**I told C.C. my plan about twenty minutes ago.**" Lelouch told the redhead. "**I told you, I predicted this to happen, and I planned accordingly. ****I even managed to make enough time for this chat, it appears.**"

Kallen stared at him in surprise. "Y-you knew I would come here?"

"**I figured you would. Rather, I was hoping so. You deserved the truth, after all.**" Lelouch said with a small, sincere smile. They were both silent for a moment, but the moment was interrupted as he got a call from another line. _\_ "This is B-2, and some scary shit is going down up here." _\_

"**What is it?**" Lelouch asked as the soldier began to scream. "**B-2! Respond!**"

_\_ "Zero! This is P-6!" _\_ another unit shouted. _\_ "They've got some kinda monster-AARGGH!" _\_

"**P-6!**"

_\_ "THIS IS R-5! R-1 IS DOWN! WE NEE-AARGGH!" _\_

'_Not good…'_ Lelouch thought angrily. _'At this rate, whatever it is will reach here…'_

"Did you predict this..?" Kallen asked, looking at the Black Knights die on the monitors.

"**Stop being clever and get down there.**" Lelouch ordered, as Kallen sent out her Gurren and rode out of there.

'_Damn… the corridors are too narrow for lugia…_' Lelouch thought angrily, jumping off and returning her to the masterball.

Fortunately, the path seemed quiet- Lelouch didn't want to be pulled into a battle. Most of his pokémon had taken heavy damage while fighting Crasher Wake. Truth be told, Lelouch's pokémon had been weaker, but the boy was smarter, and won through strategy.

Lelouch walked over to the broken corner and grabbed the splintered shaft of a steel pipe. It'd have to do until he reached some open space.

* * *

_\_ "Zero, you get out of here." _\_ Urabe said into the speakers. _\_ "As long as you're safe, there's hope. We're just a distraction for your escape while C.C. restored your memories, so we'll create an opening and-" _\_

"**That's wrong, Urabe.**" Lelouch said into his radio as he moved through the corridors cautiously. "**The concept of 'cutting off' isn't enough to destroy Britannia****. I cannot topple their rule alone.**** Besides…**" Lelouch smirked bitterly. "**It appears to have found me first.**"

Lelouch saw the red and green tentacles slither around the corner towards him. It oozed evil, but he could also see its flesh begin to break apart, as if the eldritch abomination was suffering from leprosy.

"_DeeEEeooxxXXxxYYSSsss…_" it hissed, spotting him. Shooting its tentacles forward, it dragged its slithering mass towards him, its blue face a mask of sheer hate and bloodlust.

He heard rapid footsteps behind him, and Rivalz leapt past Lelouch, steel arm outstretched and pressing through the mass of tentacles to grab the abomination by the face.

"Didn't momma tell you not to hurt your uncles Lulu or Rivalz?" he spat, before launching a wave of crimson energy into the pokémon.

It screamed and melted into a pile of goop. "Deoxys." Rivalz told Lelouch with a wink and a grinning thumb-up. "Nina's babies."

"**Nina?**" Lelouch asked in shock.

"Yeah, she made the first one a year ago, then got hired by Milly's fiancée." Rivalz spat. "Now they're mass-producing these bitches- they kill like nothing you've ever seen before but their DNA's so unstable they all die minutes after leaving their pokéballs."

"**That's just wrong…**" Lelouch gasped. "**Nothing should have to exist like that…**"

"The nuke arm Rakshad built for me speeds up their half-life or something, which is lucky." Rivalz joked. "And yeah, I know half-life is used in physics, but it's damned appropriate for these things."

"**When did you become so well versed in physics?**" Lelouch asked.

"Didn't, just repeating what other people have told me." Rivalz laughed. "But yeah, shouldn't we be going to help everyone else?"

"**Good plan.**" Lelouch told him, stepping back and pointing at the floor under his feet. "**If you would?**"

Rivalz grinned and jumped into the air, punching down where Lelouch suggested and breaking through.

* * *

"**C.C.**" Lelouch said into the pokénav as he landed on the floor behind Urabe on his regirock and Kallen on her ho-oh. "**Are we ready to go yet?**"

_\_ "Why so nervous?" _\_ she replied as Lelouch summoned his lugia and Rivalz summoned his garchomp. _\_ "You have those three with you, don't you?" _\_

Then the door burst open, and a horde of deoxys, all twitching red and green tentacles and dissolving flesh, poured from the entrance.

"_DEeeooOOxxxyyYYyySSsss…"_they hissed as one, crawling into the room and launching psychic attack after psychic attack, tentacles lashing the ground in anticipation of a bloodbath.

"**We don't need long.**" Lelouch ordered the three others. "**GO!**"

Regirock charged first, Urabe screaming a furious war cry with his sword held high as Kallen's ho-oh purged the mass of monster flesh with a wave of Sacred Fire. Garchomp rushed in, ripping and slicing flesh with its jaws and blades as Rivalz reached for heads, nuking them individually as he went on.

Lugia flapped upwards, launching an aeroblast through the wall and obliterating the monsters at the back. So far, things were going well.

Then they got Urabe.

Tentacles glowing with psychic energy wrapped around his leg, crushing the bone. Urabe roared in pain and swung his katana through the mutated limb, severing it, but a dozen more sprang to take it's place, dragging him from his pokémon. "TAKE IT!" he shouted, returning his regirock and tossing it to Rivalz as he was devoured. "KEEP FIGHTING! FOR OUR DREAM!" he roared as the drones ripped him apart, skewering one last monster through it's skull and reaching for his explosives. "LONG LIVE JAPAN!" he shouted, ramming two grenades down one deoxys' face.

He died with four of the monsters, consumed by the fiery explosion that rocked the room. Because the drones had swarmed around him, so desperate for blood, they took the worse of the damage while Kallen and Rivalz were merely blown back a few metres.

_\_ "Alright, it's ready." _\_ C.C. told Lelouch, snapping him out of his shock.

"**FALL BACK!**" he ordered the dazed Kallen and Rivalz. "**WE'RE READY TO GO!**"

'_We will keep fighting, Urabe. It will not be a dream for much longer...'_ Lelouch swore in his heart. Little did he know the same oath was being made by his friends as they rushed to his side.

He pulled the trigger.

* * *

They didn't have time to prepare electrode.

They didn't have a mountain of diglett.

They didn't have a boat of magikarp eggs.

But you know what they did have?

Good old C-4, just like momma used to make.

And lots of it.

Not only that, but they also had the blueprints to the tower.

And Lelouch's brain.

So the section of the tower the knights just so _happened_ to be in was safe, while the section above it fell forwards, onto the entrance-way where the rest of the army was positioned to capture any escapee's, with the added bonus of taking the deoxys-drones with it.

_'Calares, you rank amateur. __You made a mistake by eliminating our escape routes.'_ Lelouch grinned to himself. _'It's almost as if you were telling us where you were situated._'

Lelouch laughed at the brilliance of it all. "**Farewell, Governor Calares!**" he declared, holding his hand out as C.C. handed him his mask and cloak. "**Now, let me greet the world…**"

Rivals ran around as Lelouch tossed him a pokénav from a dead soldier, punching in the number for the head office. "Rolling!" he hissed once Lelouch had the cloak and mask on.

"_**MY NAME IS... ZERO!**_" Lelouch shouted from amongst the flames as one Knight hacked into all the broadcasting networks, making sure everyone in the country saw this. "_**To all Japanese… No, to all in the world!**__" _Lelouch swished the cape wide, unwittingly allowing his white shirt to be seen. "_**I HAVE RETURNED FROM HELL ITSELF!**_"

"_**HEAR ME BRITANNIA!**_" Zero declared. "_**To all those who hold power… I am saddened.**_" He said, curling his cape tight around him and touching his helmet. "_**All this war and discrimination… did I not return Japan to its rightful people? The evil intentions of those who brandish their power… the tragedy and comedy allowed to continue in error… this world has not changed in the slightest.**_" He declared. "_**THEREFORE! I HAD to return! As long as the strong continue to torment the weak… I SHALL RISE FROM THE GRAVE AND DEFY THIS BROKEN WORLD!**_"

"_**Just now, I have provided divine retribution upon the foolish Governor Calares.**_" Zero announced. "_**I WILL FIGHT! AGAINST ALL THOSE WHO MISUSE THEIR POWER! THEREFORE! I SHALL ONCE AGAIN DECLARE THE FORMATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF JAPAN!**_" he shouted. "_**My friends in the Chinese Embassy! RAISE! OUR! FLAG!**_"

The camera span to show the Chinese Embassy raise a third flag, in addition to its own flag and the Britannian flag.

This flag was white, with a red circle in the centre. A black line with a smaller black ring in the middle ran through the red circle, which had a large, black wing on either side. "_**From this moment on!**_" Zero declared. "_**Our nation shall be formed within the Chinese Embassy until we reclaim this land for ourselves! There are no restrictions on race, doctrines, or religion! There is only one requirement to become a member of our country! TO CARRY OUT JUSTICE!**_"

* * *

"So, how the hell did you get that to work?" Rivalz asked Lelouch as they flew on lugia to the Chinese Embassy, flanked by the smaller flying pokémon of the other surviving Black Knights.

'_That's what I want to know._' Lelouch asked himself. _'The letter in my pocket said that this would happen, and to trust it, but I have no idea how it got there.'_

He got his answer, however, when he landed in the embassy.

"Hey." the teenager in the deep hat grinned as Zero landed. "Good to see you back in action, Lellow."

'_Ashford!'_ Lelouch thought in shock. _'But… isn't he..?'_

"Hey, aren't you the Knight of One!" Rivalz shouted.

"Auntie C.C. asked me to give my big brother Zero a hand." Red chuckled, giving Lelouch a wink of his flaring Geass eyes. "Why would I refuse?"

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

GASP!

Yeah, see, this is why my R2 is different from Sunrise's R2.

_**Varanus:**__ You all thought he was going to be an enemy, didn't you? And yes, that's what he meant by the Vincent replacements. I take no responsibility for the horror that is about to ensue._

…_Well, okay, maybe a little. Oh, who cares, it's gonna be epic._

Hell, everything I've done in this story up until now was just a warm up. As of now, canon will be very loose in relation to this._  
_


	24. Honour and Liberty

Hm… I haven't made people hate me lately. At least, not since Monday. Let's re-open some wounds.

WITH A DOUBLE CHAPTER!

BUT FIRST! Reviews!

Deviate Fish, I'm not sure how Arceus will come into play just ye- no, no wait I do. IT'S AWESOME!

Karasu, Mere... foot soldier?  
Well, the thing with Deoxys is that it's still under development. Oh, we now exactly what we want from it, and further into the buffer, we've damned well achieved it.  
The Deoxys in this one are incredibly powerful, almost as strong as the actual Deoxys- for ten minutes, tops. Then the cancer starts to take its toll, and they are as easy to kill as zombies with leprosy. Of course, Rivalz is special.  
Be pleased to know that we aren't skipping Nina, either. In fact, we're developing her character almost as much as we did Rivalz. And it's Goooooood. The only character we probably won't spend much time developing is Milly. Not that I don't like her, she's a huge barrel of laughs. She's just not relevant to this plot.

As for the Fleija, you will never see it coming.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"Princess Euphemia, you have a guest."

The princess turned in her garden to see a familiar masked man. "Oh, White Reaper!" she greeted. "It's good to see you again!"

"_And you too, Euphemia."_ The masked knight replied. "_How are you this fine day?"_

"It's always fine in here." Euphie sighed. "This artificial sunlight never rains… I wish I could be outside…"

"_You know that it's dangerous for you, Princess._" The knight lied. "_And I'm afraid that we won't be able to see each other for some time now._"

"Oh?" she asked. "Are you going on another mission?"

"_Yes, your highness."_ The knight nodded. "_To Area Eleven._"

"Eleven?" she asked. "Are there still any Japanese left to kill?"

The knight scowled behind his mask. "_No milady._" He lied. "_They are all destroyed."_

She looked down in sadness. "Suzaku…" she sighed. "I miss him so…"

'_I miss you too, Euphie.'_ The knight thought to himself. _'But… what Lelouch did to you…'_

"_I must be off, milady._" The masked Suzaku told his princess. "_Good day._"

"Farewell, my good knight." Euphie sighed, managing to remain calm as he left, before bursting into tears the moment the door to the garden shut.

Suzaku allowed himself a quiet sob once he was in the corridor. "Lelouch…" he snarled, fist clenching his removed mask.

* * *

"Quite a commotion you've caused." Red smirked, clicking his fingers as the four rebel leader's were teleported into the Lamperouge household. "Brother."

"Wait, you had a brother?" Rivalz asked as Lelouch stepped forward and rammed a fist into Ashford's face. The blow smacked against his jaw and forced him to take a staggering step back.

"Yeah, I reckon I deserve that." The younger boy admitted, tugging of his hat. "I mean, even after talking with the Chinese Embassy to raise the flag _I_ designed and letting you in on the plan, _AND_ creating a situation where you could not only move freely with minimal surveillance, but I even managed to keep Nunnally safe _AND_ get you your allies and memories back, I think that punch was justified. Oh, wait. No I don't."

"_**Guh!**_" Lelouch coughed, taking a sucker punch to the gut.

"Douche." Ash grunted. "Now take that mask off and get to business. Beardo, there's stuff in the fridge, bring some. Playgirl, portable healing pad in the broom closet." He clapped his hands. "**Go.**"

They both ran to their tasks and Lelouch got to his feet. "_**Bastard…**_" he grunted, taking his mask off. "**You used Geass on them, didn't you?**"

"My Geass doesn't work like that." His brother replied, before turning to C.C. "You explained the Geass to those two, auntie?"

"Lelouch's, but not yours." C.C. told him, sighing and slopping onto the couch. "You can do that yourself, since not even I completely understand the nature of it."

"Alright then." Ashford said, charging up his Geass. "**My Geass is the Geass of ****Perpetual Defiance****.**" He told his brother in hushed tones. "**It makes the universe around me submit to my innate desire to succeed****, manipulating people's unconscious thoughts and actions to accommodate my whims.**** I can focus it on any target within one kilometre. I can't make anyone go against their nature, like your Geass can, but I can make them slip up, make mistakes. When I lost control of it, anyone I battled made stupid mistakes against me and won every single battle easily and no-one could stop me. My title as grandmaster is meaningless.**"

"**So what is it that you want?**" Lelouch asked him.

"**You work better under pressure.**" Ash told him. "**My Geass, if used against you, will make your life hell but you unstoppable. ****The battle we had on Aeris Palace proves it, remember? We fought to a draw- in the end, you only tripped because of my Geass. And now that you know about its power, well,**** I might finally lose. But crushing pops and getting Nunnally back comes first. As for now, keep my Geass hush from the others, since mine is more worrying than yours, due to its lack of limit.**"

"**Yet, there's a lot more that my Geass can achieve.**" Lelouch sighed as Ash deactivated his Geass' in time for Rivalz and Kallen to come back in.

"So, basically, you don't want us to know that your eyeballs are the world's greatest good luck charm." Rivalz nodded, biting into a cookie. "Gotcha."

Ash facepalmed. "See what I mean!" he shouted. "I can't control _how_ it works on people! It makes things go right for me in the _long-run_, but my Geass knows what's good for me better than I do!"

"No biggie." Kallen shrugged, before freezing up. "Wait, is your Geass just _making_ us accept this so easily?"

"That's why I hate the world right now." Ashford sighed. "I don't know where it stops and where free-will begins."

"**Let me ask you one thing before we begin then.**" Lelouch hunched over. "**I never intended to Geass Euphie to commit genocide.**" That got a few raised eyebrows from Kallen and Rivalz. "**My Geass just happened to become permanently active as I said-**" Lelouch covered his eye just in case. "**For example, I could make you kill all the Japanese.**" He removed his hand. "**Was that a freak accident or your doing?**"

"I just wanted something to go wrong." Ash replied, his cheery tone fading to one of remorse. "I never, ever wanted anything like… _that_ to happen."

"**I believe you.**" Lelouch nodded, before standing up and punching his little brother in the face.

"I admit that I deserve that one." Ash conceded, standing up and righting his chair. "Alright, explanation time. I got my Geass when I was eight, got dad to wipe my memories and put me in a foster home so I could work my way to the top, on condition that when I reached the Knight of Rounds, he put them back. Four years later, I'm Knight of One, I realise that my quick rise to glory was my Geass, not me, and that my mother had been dead for three and a half years and my brother and sister have been announced to be dead."

"Then, about a year ago, Zero shows up, catches my eye. I do some poking around, a little investigation work, figuring out who was behind the mask with the help of my Geass and realise just how thoroughly I got played. So, I pretty much want what you want Lellow." Ash finished. "Kill dad, destroy Britannia, get Nunnally back."

"**Where is she right now?**" Lelouch asked.

"Pendragon." His brother replied without hesitation. "Being used as a political hostage to restrict your movements until they either capture Auntie or can prove that your memories have returned and that you're Zero."

"**I thought so…"** Lelouch grunted, turning away. "**How long have you been planning this revival?**"

"Since I saw Kallen in Trainer Tower." Ash shrugged. "Like I said, I just kinda go with it."

"**Finally, why were you unaffected by my Geass back at the festival?"**

"Geass of Defiance, remember?" Ash grinned. "Like I'm ever going to be somebody's slave. I mean, if you ordered me to feed a girl a banana, Id've jumped up and said yes please." Lelouch pretended he didn't see Ash's eyes dart to Kallen.

The high-five he gave Rivalz was harder to ignore.

"Your brother's an ass…" Kallen scowled, crossing her arms protectively in front of her.

Lelouch sighed. "**Alright then.**" He said, standing up. "**I'm going to bed.**"

"Wait, how can you just sleep at a time like this!" Kallen shouted, standing up to confront him.

"**Kallen, early this afternoon my biggest worry was how I was going to catch hell from my P.E. teacher for skiving my catch-up lessons again. Now, I'm the head of a ruined rebel organisation that's opposing the world's largest superpower. Don't expect me to have a grand plan this quickly.**"

Rivalz sensed an argument brewing and stepped in to intervene. "Hey, just chill everyone—"

"**It'll take me at least until breakfast.**" Lelouch told everyone with a smirk, before heading for the stairs. "**Ash had the bright idea into moving into a house a few months ago, so feel free to take one of the spare rooms.**"

C.C. smiled to herself, giving her jirachi a little squeeze.

* * *

There was a knock on Lelouch's door about twenty minutes later. "**Yeah..?**" he asked blearily, opening the door.

It was C.C. "Come with me." She ordered, dragging him along the corridor and into another bedroom. The shower was running in the en-suite, so Lelouch was forced to assume that C.C. and Kallen were sharing.

Or at least, that better be the case.

"Here." C.C. told him, handing him a small, spherical case. "This is a contact lens that will block your Geass that's unstoppable for the time being.

"**If all it took was to block optical information, then a normal coloured contact lens should work.**" Lelouch pointed out, opening the case and looking at the purple lens on its cushion.

"Enough with your snooping." C.C. told him as Lelouch tipped it onto his finger and placed it carefully into his eyes. "As you conjecture, that's a special one. However, if your Geass becomes stronger than it is now…"

"**I'll try to **end **this **game before that happens." He replied, blinking the lens into place.

* * *

Kallen sighed, staring absently at nothing in particular as she stood in the shower, relishing the feeling of the hot water as it poured down her body. Hell, how long had it been since she was able to take a leisurely shower like this? It was almost alien to imagine how quickly things had changed…

Her thoughts drifted to back at the hotel, when she had confronted Leouch, and it began to finally sink in for her. Those days of barely surviving alongside Rivalz and the other remaining Black Knights were nearly over. They had finally succeeded in their desperate goal- why else would she be here, letting steaming water ease the aches in her shoulders when not a few hours before she was prepared to die in one last stand.

She turned off the hot water and allowed herself a smirk as she stepped out of the shower, lifting the towel in the basket to see the clothes Lelouch had left out for her._'He's really back…'_ she thought to herself with a smile, idly toweling herself off. Picking the clothes up to check their size, she saw the pink buneary costume underneath.

Then the thought clicked.

* * *

"C.C.!" Kallen shouted, storming into the bedroom with a towel around her torso. "Wouldn't all of this have been quicker if _you_ had been the buneary girl… eh?"

Lelouch and C.C. were looking at her, one with surprise and another with a smirk. "Kallen, are you trying to seduce one of us like that?" C.C. asked with a smirk, causing her to run back into the bathroom with a shriek.

"That **was** cruel." Lelouch pointed out, rubbing his eye. "And this contact lens will take some getting used to."

"It's better than the alternative, is it not?" C.C. asked.

* * *

The next morning, as breakfast was being prepared, they turned the TV on to keep an eye out for news about Zero's return. Hopefully Brittania would have prepared a counter-statement by now, which would let Lelouch know where they stood.

Turns out they had one hell of a counter-statement.

_\_ "Can you hear me? Zero!" _\_

Lelouch turned turned up the volume with a piece of toast in his mouth. _\_ "I am Princess Cornelia Li Britannia's knight, Gilbert G.P. Guilford!" _\_

"Hey, that's Ohgi!" Kallen pointed out, turning up the volume as the camera panned over the prisoners they had on display.

_\_ "Beginning fifteen hundred hours tomorrow, we will begin the execution of these two hundred and fifty six S-class war criminals that have committed treason!" _\_

"Bastard…" Rivalz grunted, crushing the egg he was holding and frying it instantly.

_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Guilford continued. _\_ "If you value the lives of your subordinates, then come out and fight me!" _\_

Lelouch smirked. "Good move, Guilford. Good move…"

"Seems kinda stupid really." Ash yawned. "I mean, we could just go in there with ho-oh, mewtwo and lugia, storm the place, and our ranks move up to two hundred and sixty one. More if you count Diethard's men in China."

"My problem isn't with the Britannian government." Lelouch said. "It's with the men who are observing me well enough to know what I discussed with my older brother over breakfast _despite_ the lack of security cameras."

"Aaand you didn't consider that they might be watching us now?" Rivalz asked, eyes darting to the ceiling to check for cameras.

"Nah, I took care of them, at least the house party." Ash told them. "I keep insisting that I like my privacy, bring enough women over, they get the hint for a while until the next one."

"So who's left?" Lelouch asked, already used to his brother's antics. He shook his head apologetically to Kallen, who was glaring daggers at his brother.

"The school team and their back-ups around the city." Red answered. "I know that Villetta and Rolo are in on it, but other than that…"

"I expected Villetta, but Rolo's one who I didn't consider." Lelouch admitted. "He's your friend, right?"

"Got a Geass that makes people around him stop dead for a few seconds while he stabs them." Ash shuddered. "I was outside of range at the time, but he's not one you want suspicious of you."

"So, your problem is whether you go and save everyone, potentially ruining your double life as a good Britannian student, possibly putting your sister in danger, _Or_ let them die, crush everyone's faith in Zero, and our situation doesn't change." Kallen asked. "You really shouldn't have to put that much thought into it."

"You forgot the third option." Ash reminded her. "Save everyone, restore the Black Knights, bring Zero back into the limelight, _AND_ keep our observers under the impression that he hasn't regained his memories and has nothing to do with any of this."

"The easiest way is for me to go on a date with Shirley while either Ash or C.C. dress up as Zero and intervene." Lelouch pointed out. "But that's not what I want to achieve. Where is C.C. anyway?"

"Still in bed, asleep." Kallen sighed. "So, what're you going to do?"

**DINGDONG**

Ash opened up the security camera. "It's Rolo." He said. "By the looks of things, they're gonna tail you like hell until this is over."

Lelouch thought for a second then turned to his brother. "Take off your shirt." He told him, filling a large glass with water.

* * *

"Hi!" Ash shouted after running to the door, topless and wet. "Sorry, I was… in the shower."

"In your trousers?" Rolo asked.

"Eeeeyep." He nodded suspiciously. "Best way to do it."

Rolo raised an eyebrow. "You've got a girl over, don't you?"

Ash stepped outside, closing the door behind him. "Two actually, and it's hard work making sure they don't find out about each other as it is. What do you want?"

Rolo glared. "How can you have women over at a time like this!"

"Easily." Red told his 'partner'. "Because the target hasn't regained his memories."

"You were separate for a time during the Trainer Tower incident." Rolo noted. "And Zero was wearing our school uniform minus blazer."

"Could easily have been an office worker minus the tie." Red countered. "Trust me, the bacon he fried this morning was crap."

Rolo raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with anything?"

The Knight of One sighed. "Lelouch learnt to cook while taking care of his sister." He explained. "Just like everything else, his pride would only allow him to be good at it back then, and from what I understand of how he was _before_ Zero, he was. Now that his memories were altered, his cooking sucks. If he had remembered, then I wouldn't be eating this." He explained, showing a blackened piece of bacon that Rivalz had quickly incinerated for the occasion.

Rolo sighed. "Fine, we'll give you an hour to get your lady friends out, but then we're going to be observing the target."

"Right then, cheers." Ash told him, stepping back inside the house. "Did you _have_ to throw water over my face?"

"Hide the lack of sweat or odour." Lelouch explained. "We still have the escape tunnel?"

"Won't they have that under observation?" Kallen asked.

"Nah, it's not actually a tunnel, there's a teleport tile inside." Red explained. "Had to train an abra and a porygon-z for weeks to get it right, but now it'll take whoever steps on it to a random empty alley in the city."

"Nifty." Rivalz nodded. "What's the plan?"

Lelouch told them.

They liked it.

* * *

Shirley woke up to the sound of her pokétch buzzing. "Buh, wha-?" she asked, before reaching out her hand and grabbing it. "H-hello?"

_\_ "Hey, Shirley!" _\_

"EH!" she shouted, sitting bolt upright and wide awake. "Lulu!"

_\_ "Sorry for calling you so early, but I'm getting dragged out by Ash and Rolo, and I was wondering if you'd come with me?" _\_ Lelouch asked her. _\_ "I'm hoping we can ditch them half way through and hang out together?" _\_

"Eh!" she shouted. "Y-you mean like a date!"

_\_ "Hm? Well, yes, I suppose it would be." _\_ Lelouch replied. _\_ "I understand if you don't want to come, I just-" _\_

"N-NO!" Shirley shouted, faster than she would have liked. "No, it's fine, um, where shall I meet you?"

_\_ "Celadon department store in an hour?" _\_ Lelouch asked hopefully. _\_ "And if you can make it look like you were just passing by, I don't think they'll suspect a thing." _\_

"G-got it!" Shirley shouted. "L-later then!" she hung up, dropped the pokétch onto her bed and shoved her face into her pillow to shout giddily scream quietly.

* * *

Villetta smirked. "Does he really think that his home line isn't bugged?" she asked, relaying the message to Rolo. _'Although, if he has awakened, why use a girl he's already put under the Geass? Or even use the phone line at all?'_

'_His lack of suspicious behaviour is suspicious in __itself, although__ his escapade with that girl could __just__ be his tomfoolery for the day.'_

Villetta scowled as her hand brushed the scar that damned girl gave her almost a year ago. "All units get into positions." She ordered.

* * *

"H-hey, Lulu!"

The three boys turned to see Shirley running for them. "Fancy seeing you here?" she asked.

'_She's an awful liar._' The three thought in unison.

"Hey, long time no see."

Shirley dropped the bag she was carrying as she recognised the face owning the hand that just grabbed the back Lelouch's head. "R-Rivalz…"

"NOBODY MOVE!" Rivalz shouted, charging up his wrist. "Anything happens to me and handsome devil's brain turns to mush!" Lelouch had to force himself to pretend to be shocked rather than burst out laughing.

_'Handsome devil?'_

"I-is that…" one passer-by asked.

"R-Rivalz Bluebeard..?"

'_Really?'_ Lelouch asked himself. _'Rivalz Bluebeard? Well, I suppose when you're a criminal almost as wanted as Zero himself, you can call yourself whatever you want. And Rivalz always did have a thing for pirates.'_

"It's good to see you, my old friend." Lelouch smiled. "So why am I the hostage?"

Rivalz leaned into Lelouch's ear. "_We've come for you my liege._" He hissed.

"Liege?" Lelouch asked, just loud enough for Rolo to hear.

"Hold it." Ash declared as Black Knights spilled into the floor with guns and pokémon. "Can I trust that you won't harm anyone else if you take him?"

"Red!" Rolo asked.

"HEY!" Lelouch shouted. "You're just gonna let him kidnap me?"

"We gotta look at the bigger picture here." Ash sighed. "Don't worry, I'll come for you."

Lelouch groaned, eyes darting around as if thinking for a way to escape. "I'm supposed to tell _you_ that when _you're_ kidnapped." He sighed.

The wall was broken open by Kallen on her ho-oh. "GET HIM ON HERE!" she shouted as Rivalz began dragging his boss.

"LONG LIVE ZERO!" Rivalz shouted as the six other men ran for the wall, jumping out onto their flying types as Lelouch was forced onto ho-oh. "LONG LIVE THE BLACK-!"

"HYDRO CANNON!"

Everyone turned to see a huge blast of water smash into the phoenix, and a pikachu ride the current and strike the finishing blow with a thunderbolt aimed at ho-oh's flank.

Rivalz, Kallen and Lelouch began falling down the tower, and Lelouch summoned his crobat to fly out of there while the remaining Black Knights rushed to save their leaders.

"FORGET US!" Kallen shouted. "GET ZERO!"

Lelouch smirked at her acting as he called his brother, his crobat carrying him into the distance. "Ash, I'm fine, but I need you guys to give me supporting fire and arrest these criminals while I escape."

_\_ "Gotcha. Meet back at the school later." _\_

"Right." Lelouch nodded, hanging up with glee.

* * *

"Guess the Black Knights must have been pretty desperate after their plot yesterday failed," said Red amicably as he and Rolo walked into the command centre built under the school.

"But we're still no closer to finding C.C…." Rolo scowled. His attention was then drawn to the TV screen, which was playing a recording of the Government's latest declaration.

_\_ "ZERO!" _\_ Guilford shouted as eight more people were forced into the line of criminals to be executed, including Kallen and Rivalz. _\_ "We have all of your subordinates! You have twenty-four hours left to show yourself or they all die!" _\_

"Quite impressive, isn't it?" Lelouch asked Ashford and Rolo, pausing the TV as he span in his high-backed chair, stroking his sandslash. "We meet again, Rolo."

"What're—" Rolo snapped before noticing that Red had a blade to the back of Rolo's neck. "Where is everyone?"

"Apparently, the hunt for C.C. is their highest priority." Lelouch stated. "I just asked the man who tailed me back to the school to tell everyone and tell me how to get in. Of course, Geass helped matters immensely."

Rolo raised an eyebrow. "So you have awoken." he stated matter-of-factly. "And Red has joined forces with you."

"Not that you're going to tell anyone." Lelouch smirked, removing the contact lens blocking his Geass. "**Now, tell me-**"

Suddenly, Rolo was the one holding a knife to Ash's neck. "Give yourself in or he dies." Rolo demanded.

Lelouch smirked, then laughed. "**Do you honestly think I care about him!**" he shouted.

"No." Rolo replied, pressing the knife harder to Red's unresisting neck. "Brotherly bonds mean nothing to me. My orders were that if Lelouch Lamperouge were to regain his memories, and becomes Zero, I am to kill him. If Ashford were to ally himself with Zero, then kill him for High Treason first."

"**Seventeen.**" Lelouch smirked. "**Eighteen. Nineteen.**"

"What're you doing?" Rolo asked.

"He's counting you daft idiot." Red smirked. "For the record, he's two seconds behind me, and twelve seconds behind that clock over there."

Lelouch stood up and hit a button on the control panel. _\_ "**Now,**" _\_ the recording of Lelouch told Rolo as sandslash hopped to the ground. _\_ "**Tell me-**" _\_

The recording stopped, and Rolo calmly took the blade and stepped around Red, who barely managed to move his eyes.

Lelouch stopped the tape. "**I just wanted to test the limits to your power****. ****Your Geass doesn't stop time. It merely stops human's perceptions of time.**"

"Even if you know that, you cannot win against me." Rolo stated.

Red burst out laughing. "You are an absolute IDIOT, AREN'T YOU!" he shouted.

Rolo glared as he Red fizzled out and was replaced by his abra, who had switched places with his master using teleport. "**Geass ****doesn't**** affect pokémon, does it?**" Lelouch asked.

Rolo snarled, then appeared being held to the wall by a sandslash, who had leapt from the floor.

"See, you're what we trainers like to call 'Game Breaking'." Red taunted. "You've got one thing that's powerful,_ just one thing_, and you never even consider using anything different, because you win every time you use this strategy, because it's unbeatable. You don't care about the fact that it ruins the fun, or the possibility that someone could figure a way around that, or that the only pokémon you have are the gardevoir and gallade given to you in order to give you a reason to hang out with me." He chuckled. "You never got to know them. You never earned their trust. Why should you? You're not interested in pokémon, they're just tools to be used, like you're a tool to be used by Britannia."

"**You lose, Rolo.**" Lelouch sneered as Rolo kept stopping and unstopping time, trying to get away from the ground pokémon's grip. "**Because you never thought of anyone else as anything other than a thing, you lose.**"

Red pointed a gun to Rolo's head and took his pokéballs. "Stop this, bitch." He jeered, as his finger was stopped four times before the trigger activated the hammer of the gun.

But Geass doesn't work on moving bullets.

**BLAM**

* * *

It does, however, work on the hand holding the gun and the target's face.

Red's arm jerked to the left while Rolo unconsciously jerked to the right. The bullet grazed Rolo's check as he flinched, cutting it neatly.

And Red's Geass was blazing.

'_I see…_' Lelouch realised. "**Let him down, sandslash.**" Lelouch ordered, replacing his contact lens.

Rolo looked in confusion as he hit the ground. "Friends don't kill each other." Ash smirked. "So I'll give you a choice: are you our friend or our enemy?"

Rolo stood up, brushed himself down, and activated his Geass. The two other boys were frozen, and Rolo picked up the phone and hit a speed dial number. "**Villetta, Le-**"

He dropped the phone in pain and his Geass died as he looked behind him to see sandslash stabbing him in the kidney with its sharp claws. The wound quickly became dark and sickly, and the pokémon jerked its paw out of his back with a savage motion, tearing it even wider.

"I see." Red sighed sadly as Rolo clutched his wound as it poured blood, wincing in pain and trying to activate his Geass. "Sandslash's poison jab may not be enough to kill a person outright, but it can certainly screw your heartbeat enough to stop you from using your Geass." He lifted the gun to Rolo's face again. "Goodbye, Rolo."

**BLAM**

The metal slug sunk into Rolo's face and he dropped to the ground. Giving the body one last pitying look, Red picked up the phone. "Villetta?" he asked.

_\_ "Lord Red!" _\_ Villetta replied. _\_ "What's happened?" _\_

"Rolo turned rogue." He explained. "Dragged Lelouch down to the command room and tried to kill him."

_\_ "WHAT!" _\_

"He apparently convinced himself that my brother was Zero, and had Lelouch's pokémon not stalled Rolo long enough for me to put a bullet in his skull, two people would be dead right now."

_\_ "I… I see…" _\_ Villetta sighed. There was no love lost over the boy. _\_ "What of Lelouch?" _\_

Red pulled the phone away from his ear. "You alright? Brother?" he asked.

"This is a security room, right?" Lelouch asked.

Red smirked. "He's fine, though now that we've found the security room some inevitable pranks are in store… hey, Lellow…"

"I highly doubt that there are any camera's of the girl's shower areas or changing rooms." Lelouch sighed as he purged the system of the video data for the past hour.

Ash laughed. "But yeah. If you can send someone later to move the body, that'd be great." He told Villetta. "Also, we apologize, but the hard drive got broken in the cross-fire."

_\_ "That's a whole day of data lost!" _\_ Villetta groaned. _\_ "Well, at least the bait's alive and all the previous data is backed up." _\_

"Gotta go, later!" Ash told her, hanging up and shooting the computer tower. After a second of thought, he pulled open the tower fully and located the hard-drive proper, shattering it with another carefully aimed bullet. "Alright, there's the alibi sorted, no what?"

"I've got a costume to create and some pokémon to aquire," Lelouch told his brother. "I need you to help get more and train a specific pokémon for my duel tomorrow."

"Sounds fun." Red shrugged. "What've you got in mind?"

* * *

"Kallen."

The red-head woke up and turned to the man tied to the pillar next to her. "Ohgi…"

"Why did you let yourself get captured like that?" he asked.

Kallen looked around to check the security, seeing that it was minimal, and turned back to her former leader. "Because Zero's coming tomorrow."

Ohgi sighed. "He abandoned us last year." He told her. "There's no way that he's going to save us tomorrow-"

"He will." Kallen cut him off. "He's been imprisoned for the past nine months, but we've freed him."

Ohgi's eyebrow raised. "Surely they would've killed him right away?"

Kallen shook her head. "Imprisoned in the mind." She corrected. "They used some kind of mind-controlling thing to screw with his head, so he didn't know who he was."

"And now he does?" Ohgi asked.

"More than that, he has a plan." Kallen told him.

"HEY!" the guard shouted from atop his steelix. "SILENCE!"

* * *

The next day, a crowd had gathered at the Chinese Embassy in Olivine. The execution was taking place beside it as a direct challenge to Zero's new state, and hundreds of Brittanians and Elevens alike had flocked to it, to see if the masked revolutionary would show.

Some hoped to see him die by the Empire's lance, others prayed he would create another miracle. All awaited his arrival.

None were disappointed.

At half-past two, the mighty screech of Zero's lugia signaled his arrival, swooping above their heads. "_**MY KNIGHTS!**_" Zero declared. "_**How joyful it is to see you alive and well!**_"

"Z-Zero…" Ohgi asked alongside many other shocked knights.

Kallen smirked. "Told you~." She sang, watching Zero descend with glee.

"_**GUILFORD!**_" Zero roared, waving his cape wide to show his new costume.

No, a costume was the opposite of what Zero was dressed in now. A costume is what he _used_ to wear.

Gone was the tight, purple suit under the cape. This Zero wore ceramic Black armour, similar to those favoured by Britannian knights fighting in Europe. The shoulder pads were silver and bore the sigil of the Black Knights; a pointed version of the Geass symbol with a sword through it.

The cape now was sleeveless, a more simple design with a high collar, showing the solder pads and the blood red gauntlets running up Zero's armoured arm. His boots were also red, like the Roman kings of old.

Even his mask had changed, slightly, sporting a silver Geass symbol on the jaw as opposed to the previous gold one.

The meaning for the change in design was clear.

Before, Zero existed to put on a show, to shock the world into awe and reverence.

Now, he exists to fight, to conquer,

_To rule._

"_**I have come with the blood of many on my hands.**_" Zero declared, showing his bloody hands to the world. "_**Tell me, if there was an evil in this world that justice could never remove, what would you do? Would you become evil to destroy the greater evil? Or would you abide by your ideals and allow the evil to continue?**_"

"Mind games and paradoxes, Zero." Guilford sighed. "I will abide by my Princess Cornelia!"

"_**I see. That is an honourable aspiration.**__"_ Zero replied approvingly as he leapt from lugia's neck. "_**I heard that you wish to duel me, but first I would like to preserve my Knight's lives first, hence why I arrived now, instead of at a later, more dramatic time.**_"

'_Is he just playing this game?_" Guilford snarled internally. "What do you want, Zero!"

"_**A promise of prizes for our duel.**_" Zero announced, recalling his beast. "_**My Knights for your Princess.**_"

Guilford gasped. "Y-you know where Princess Cornelia is!"

"_**Of course.**_" Zero lied. "_**Should you best me in single combat, I would be delighted to take you to her myself.**_"

"Sir, wait!" one of the Glaston Knights shouted. "It's clearly a trap! He's lying!"

"_**I NEVER LIE!**_" Zero shouted. "_**I withhold the truth, I tell falsehoods, I bend facts so they resemble the truth, but I, Zero, WILL NOT LIE!**_"

Guilford glared from atop his rhyperior. "Very well!" he declared, drawing a large spear. "One pokémon, one weapon?"

"_**And one life!**_" Zero shouted, swishing his cape and throwing a net ball into the air and catching the metapod inside it. "_**COME!**_"

Guilford didn't. "THIS IS CLEARLY A TRAP!" Guilford shouted.

"_**What, you too Dunsparce to fight me?**_" Zero taunted, daring Guilford to become another Jeremiah.

* * *

"Is he trying to kill himself!" Tamaki shouted. "ZEEROO! DON'T DO IT!"

"That genius…" Silver whispered, his eyes locked onto the metapod, before busting up laughing. "KICK HIS ASS, YOU POFFIN CASE!"

"ZERO! ZERO! ZERO!" Rivalz cheered, able to worm an arm out of his straitjacket due to having his automail confiscated.

"Are they nuts?" Ohgi asked.

"We were going against the worlds largest superpower with only a crazy man in a cape and mask to lead us." Kallen reminded him. "Of course we're insane."

Ohgi turned back to the scene as Kallen cheered. One by one, more and more of the captured Knights forgot their broken pride and their lost hope and remembered what it felt like to _believe_ in Zero's miracles again.

* * *

"SILENCE!" one of the guards shouted.

"No, let them cheer." Guilford sneered. "Let them realise that madness is only temporary. Glory, however, Is ETERNAL!" he roared, riding his rhyperior as it charged for the puny human ahead of them.

"_**You shouldn't have hesitated, Guilford.**_" Zero sneered as he stepped forward, slightly at an angle, and swung the metapod into the beast's leg.

Rhyperior stumbled, falling onto its injured knee, and Guilford almost flew off. "Wh-what!" he shouted, dropping his spear to hold on tight.

"_**This metapod is a lot like Japan, Guilford.**_" Zero explained as the Britannian slowly turned around. "_**To you, it is weak, and it seems that all it can do is endure for a while until it is completely crushed. **_**I**_**, however, see something that just broke your mightiest pokémon's leg.  
**_"_**As I said, Guilford.**_" Zero sneered. "_**You shouldn't have given me time for it to use Harden so many times. You should have crushed me without a second's hesitation. Princess Cornelia would not have made that mistake.**_"

Guilford snarled, then hopped off his injured pokémon's back and picked up his spear. "You tricked me." He growled.

"_**I must admit that I did, but not in the way that you think.**_" Zero told him. "_**Because I haven't chosen a pokémon to ride.**_"

Guilford stopped dead. "_**I have my weapon, but what shall I ride in this duel?**_"

All his men prepared to fire at Zero the second he summoned his lugia.

"_**I RIDE! JAPAN!**_" Zero shouted instead, charging and smashing the knight in his ribcage with the heavy, harder-than-iron cocoon, knocking him out and shattering his ribs.

* * *

"He… he did it…" Ohgi gasped. "He… really defeated him with a metapod…"

"Idiot." Toudou snapped. "This changes nothing. Why would they just let us go now?"

"COME FORTH!" several of the Glaston Knights called out, tossing their pokéballs into the air.

"You see?" Toudou sighed as Zero was surrounded by dragons of all shapes and sizes. "Now we all die."

"_**I see that you refuse to honour my victory in this duel.**_" Zero declared, spreading his arms wide and dropping several balls onto the floor. "_**VERY WELL!**_"

Lugia, ho-oh, regirock, regice, registeel, regigigas, suicune, raikou and entei all appeared around Zero, quickly launching a storm of attacks that threw their opponents into disarray. Pressing the attacks, they began slowly advancing on the Britannian's until the legendary pokémon formed a circle that contained all of the prisoners.

Then, a dark purple bubble formed around them, and teleported everything within the sphere into the Chinese Embassy, sand and all.

* * *

"Alright, let's get to work busting these guys out!"

Many of the rescued knights looked around in confusion as to what the hell just happened as several Chinese soldiers rushed around them, breaking the locks of their cages and cutting their handcuffs loose.

"Yo, Bluebeard!" Red shouted, tossing Rivalz his robotic arm.

He caught it, twisted it around in his shoulder and plugged it into his stump. "Aaah, that always stings…" Rivalz groaned. "Thanks man!"

"Wait…" Ohgi asked as a soldier cut him loose. "What just happened?"

"I told you he'd pull through for us." Kallen told him with a smile.

Ohgi looked on in awe as Zero, the man he thought had abandoned them, walked to talk with the long-haired leader of the Chinese troops. "Y-yeah…" he gasped, looking on in awe.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

You know, I like this chapter. I like a lot of chapters, but I like how this one ended: no real cliffhanger, and a nice place to leave it for the weekend.

So, I think it's rather clear that this has deviated. Who likes deviation?

And yes, I am aware that pokétch's don't have phones. In my world, the should, therefore they do.

Also, yes, metapod are big enough to be used as a weapon, at almost three-foot long, you can easily grip it and use it as a weapon if you can lift 21 lbs with one hand. Real men can. How about you?

_**Varanus:**__ In that metapod's humble opinion? Best. Tackle. Ever. I don't think it's going to want to evolve._

_Also, part of me feels pretty bad for Rolo, but what happened is fitting. In this universe, he was never really given the chance he got in canon. Ah well, that's the risk you run in these sorts of settings. _

_And who's to say he never had chances here either? Sure, he never had a 'brother', but he had pokémon, he had the capability of moving forward just like everyone else did. Too bad he never took the time to see that._

_Hmm. So yeah. Yay deviation!_

Don't be thrown off though. The Deviation gets a whole lot steeper._  
_


	25. Knights of the Round

Heyoh! Happy Monday Everyone!

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"Zeroo~!" the eunuch shouted as the masked terrorist walked into his chambers with Li Xingke. "It is good to see you!"

"_**Lord Gao Hai.**_" Zero replied. "_**I must thank you for your co-operation, but I must ask, why do you support the Black Knights in such a way?**_"

"Isn't it obvious~?" he giggled in his high-pitched voice. "I love Lord Zero~! You are the only one I wish to serve~!"

'_I see…'_ Lelouch realised. "_**And what of Empress Tianzi?**_"

"She is but a child~!" Gao Hai retorted, referring about the young Empress of the Chinese Union. "What could _she_ offer me?"

"_**One should ask, 'what could you offer her'?**_"

"Hm~?"

"_**Your Empress is young and inexperienced, and relies on the wisdom and experience of those around her.**_" Zero declared. "_**Yet, you use her innocence to rape China and fill your own bellies, even risking war with Britannia to satisfy your selfish desires of harbouring S-CLASS TERRORISTS!**_"

Gao Hai glared. "I do not like your tone, Zero~!"

"**I **_**do not accept YOUR way of THINKING!**_" Zero shouted, drawing a katana from behind his cape. "_**I, Zero, exist to PURGE those who abuse their power! You make Britannia look responsible.**_"

"Seize him~!"

No body moved.

"_**Do you see?**_" Zero asked him with pity. "_**Even your own countrymen are disgusted.**_"

SLIT

Zero wiped the blade clean on Gao Hai's robes as the eunuch's head rolled several feet from his corpse. "_**I have removed the leech from your ranks. My end of this bargain is fulfilled.**_"

"Thank you, Zero." Xingke replied. "You and your men are welcome to stay here as long as you need. However, I do not intend to become friends with you."

"_**You are surprisingly political for a military mind such as yourself.**_" Zero complimented the huge soldier. "_**You want to use me, but not the risk of allying yourself with me.**_"

Xingke turned around, not acknowledging his words. Lelouch smirked under his mask, realising just how politically savvy the man was. "_**Regardless,**__** you respect the lives of those under you. I **__**admire**__** that.**_"

* * *

"Long live the BLACK KNIGHTS!" Tamaki shouted, throwing his white prisoner robes into the air.

"BANZAI!" many others shouted, tossing their robes into the air in the same fashion.

* * *

"Alright, what should we do about Zero's identity?" C.C. asked those gathered in the room. Neither Lelouch, Kallen, Ashford nor Rivalz questioned how she got to the embassy. That was just C.C. "We're the only ones inside the organisation who know, but…"

"Let's keep it like that." Lelouch stated from behind his desk, Zero's mask placed by his elbows.

"Lelouch." Kallen asked, standing up. "Am I captain of Zero's bodyguards like I was before?" she asked.

"Yeah, if you still want the job." Lelouch told her.

"Got it." She replied, taking her ho-oh from the desk and walking to the door. "I'll go retrieve the rest of my team then. I'll leave everything else to you lot."

"Thank you, Kallen." Lelouch told her with a smile as she left, before turning to Rivalz. "Rivalz, since you took Urabe's regirock, how would you feel about joining the four Heavenly Blades?"

"Seriously?" Rivalz asked, shocked.

Lelouch nodded. "He entrusted it to you. Besides, from what I saw, you've grown more than skilled enough to fight as one of them. What do you say?"

Rivalz smirked. "One of the elite, huh? Man, that'd be intense." He held up a hand and Red tossed the heavy ball into his metal palm. "Thanks man."

Once he left, C.C. turned to Lelouch and Ash. "We'll talk about Geass later." She said. "Right now, we-"

"_I know._" Lelouch said from behind his mask. "_We have work to do._"

"Man, I do all that work retrieving the legendaries _and_ parties for almost three hundred and _don't_ _I_ get _any_ thanks?"

"_Thank you, Ashford._" Zero told him. "_Shall I introduce you as the Knight of One, or…"_

"Red'll do just fine." He replied, standing up and hiding his face under his cap. "In fact, don't introduce me. People will figure it out."

* * *

"Aww hell yeah!" Sugiyama shouted, holding up the black clothes. "Black Knights uniforms! Man, this takes me back!"

"I KNOW!" Tamaki shouted, wrapping the red strap around his forehead.

"And pokémon too!" Sugiyama shouted in response. "Man, I'm surprised that they were able to prepare all this-"

"Prime! Prime!"

Sugiyama turned to be tackled by a large ball of fluff. "O-okazi!" he shouted, recognising the primeape that had been taken from him after being captured nine months ago. "I never thought I'd see you again!"

Not everyone was re-united with their pokémon again, though. Again, the pokémon taken from the Britannian stockpile were mostly strangers to the Knights, though some pokémon recognised their old masters, and their new trainers usually agreed to trade.

The average Knight's team as made of half their old pokémon, and some new ones that they would now have to get used to.

Toudou, however, was happy to receive his beloved regigigas Zangetsu from Kallen as she explained how Urabe had fallen. "So he died honourably…" he managed, looking at the night sky.

Chiba looked at the two from the opposite end of the pond while stroking her beloved suicune. "Who knows what's going to happen next? Just confess to him already." The bespectacled Asahina told her from atop his regice.

"Wh-confess what!" Chiba blurted.

"IT'S ZERO!"

Everyone dropped what they were doing and turned to look at the door to the building the Chinese Embassy had given the Knights, were Zero was standing, coiled in his cloak. "Wait, wait!" Chiba shouted, leaping over the crowd atop her suicune, and looking up at the masked man as the din grew silent.

"You have my thanks for saving us." She told him. "However, had you not betrayed us, there would have been no need for us to be saved."

"Shouldn't you say something about it?" Asahina asked from atop his regice.

"Zero, what happened back then?" Ohgi asked.

"_Japan was liberated__**.**_" Zero declared. "_My purpose had been achieved. When you let Japan fall again, that was a separate matter entirely._"

"Wait… YOU'RE SAYING THIS IS OUR FAULT!" the aged Senba shouted from his registeel's shoulder.

"Not even an apology or an excuse?" Asahina spat.

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone turned to see Silver standing atop his entei. "Zero is an absolute bastard who dropped us at the last second, leaving the job half done before disappearing for nine months. Think about it."

"_I can assure that I was not pregnant._" Zero declared, giving Silver an annoyed glare beneath his mask that the red-haired teen couldn't see. "_As it was, I went to confront Charles Zi Britannia in person."_

That turned heads. "_I lost."_ He declared. "_I underestimated the man, and spent nine months living as a shell of my former self. Had it not been for those who fought to revive me, you would all be dead and I would be incapable of caring. That is why I didn't return. It's a miracle that I can even stand before you this day in itself!"_

"You expect us to believe this bullshit!" Sugiyama shouted as Toudou stepped out of the crowd. Suddenly, the garden went silent.

"Zero." The man stated calmly as he walked up the steps towards the masked man. "You left to make a move against Britannia, and to secure our victory, am I correct?"

"_I always strive for results."_ Zero answered.

"Understood." Toudou nodded, before turning around and facing the crowd. "There are times that the contents of an operation must be kept secret!" he declared, standing on Zero's left. "The fact is that we need Zero's abilities NOW! And I know of no-one else with superior talents!"

"Same here." Ohgi shouted, running to stand beside Zero's right hand. "Believe in Zero, everyone!"

"But, Zero's just using you as his pawn…" Minami muttered.

"WHO ELSE COULD DO THIS!" Ohgi bellowed. "WHO ELSE COULD WAGE WAR AGAINST BRITANNIA! NOT THE CHINESE UNION! EVEN THE E.U. ARE LOSING TO PRINCE SCHNEIZEL." He took a deep breath. "We are the hope for all the Areas!" Ohgi declared loudly, measuring his voice. "In order for us to win this war for independence, We need ZERO AS OUR LEADER!"

"THAT'S RIGHT!" Tamaki shouted, leading the chant. "ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO! ZERO!"

"Just to let you know." Silver told Zero from behind him under the din of the cheering. "If you ever, _ever_ do something like that again, I will kill you. People need to believe in Zero, but if you ever even _think_ of letting us down, I will kill you and take up the mask myself. I may not be as good as you, but I can certainly keep their dream alive."

"_Your tongue is as Silver as your name."_ Lelouch smirked from behind his mask, the cheers stopping anyone other than the three men around him from hearing his words.

* * *

"Just a heads up, pops messed with your memories for _only_ three things." Ashford told Lelouch when he returned home, raising a finger. "One, anything to do with you being a prince, including mom and the fact that you were exiled here. Two," he continued, raising a second one. "He replaced all your memories about Nunnally to memories of either being with me or being by yourself, so no Sayako either. Three," he concluded, raising a third finger, "Anything about you being Zero, having the Geass, knowing C.C., or being involved in the Black Knights."

"I know." Lelouch replied, slipping his helmet off. "What's your point?"

"My point is that Rolo's replacement is coming in tomorrow morning, and your memories about him haven't changed."

"Suzaku?" Lelouch asked.

Ash nodded. "Also, a heads up, after the whole 'Black Knights and the army taking on deoxys' thing last year, you, Milly and Shirley are pretty much the only kids in the school that were there, everyone else left, quite sensibly too. Even Misty dropped out to work on the gym full time."

"Milly's grandfather owns the school, so that is understandable." Lelouch sighed. "But, why would Shirley still be here?"

"Do I have to answer that?" Ash asked with a smirk.

Lelouch smirked in turn. "No, I know what you mean." He sighed. "Even that girl I geassed to mark the wall was forcibly dragged by her parents back to wherever they come from."

"I wonder what's happened to her?" Ash asked.

"She most likely found another wall to mark, or she's trying to swim across the ocean." Lelouch sighed. Ash winced at the thought, but his brother just shook his head tiredly and changed the subject. "So, Suzaku's going to be transferring into my class tomorrow?"

"Yep." The younger sibling nodded. "Bringing two more knights with him."

"Four knights for little old me?" Lelouch asked in a sing-song voice. "I feel honoured- what is it?" he asked, seeing the look on his brother's face.

"Tucker." Ash groaned in a deadpan voice. "Of all the people he could've brought with him, he brought Tucker."

"What's wrong with Tucker?" Lelouch asked, wondering who could worry the Knight of One like this.

"Nothing, I suppose." Ash managed. "I mean, he's a great guy, just a bit…"

"A bit what?"

Ash sighed. "He dresses in a pink leotard and dances everywhere." He explained. "The only reason anyone respects him is because of his power. Or his dancing. Either way, I don't exactly get on with him."

"I see." Lelouch sighed. "I'm off to bed then. How long will it be before we get those portable telepads?"

"Eh, couple of days or so." Red yawned. "You really did a number on Silph Co.'s research budget when you bombed, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah." Lelouch sighed, climbing the stairs.

* * *

"Starting today, I have returned to Ashford Academy." Suzaku introduced himself to the class the next day. "My name is Suzaku Kururugi. I look forward to working with you all."

Lelouch ignored the whisperings around him as his eyes locked onto his opponents. "Lord Kururugi has returned to Area Eleven on a special assignment!" Villetta declared. "Suzaku, take your seat next to Lelouch for now."

"Yes ma'am." Suzaku nodded as Lelouch unclenched his fist. _'Suzaku. You were my very first friend.'_ Lelouch thought to himself as the Knight of Five approached him. _'However, war tore us apart. In the second pacific war, Britannia annexed Japan. As the loser of the war, Japan became a Britannian colony. I, who was thrown away by my country, and you, who was forced to throw away his country, were friend and foe when we met again. You are Japanese, yet a Britannian soldier. I am Zero. We hid our identities, and we fought each other.'_

'_However, those were my real memories.'_ He concluded as Suzaku stood at the empty seat next to Lelouch, both giving each other a look that certainly wasn't a glare of pure hatred. _'However, if I am to keep up this charade of innocence, then right now, we're…'_

"It's been a long time, Suzaku." Lelouch told him with a smile.

Suzaku forced a smile himself. "This brings back memories, Lelouch." He replied as Shirley came from behind.

"Suzaku!" she shouted as the classroom door opened. "Long time no see!"

"I heard Suzaku's come back!" Milly shouted, poking her head through the portal.

"President, we're in the middle of class right now…" Lelouch complained.

"Oh, whatever Lulu!" Shirley groaned. "Stop being so serious at a time like this!"

'_You made a mistake, Suzaku.'_ Lelouch thought to himself as Shirley nagged at him. _'You came over to me with just the name, Lelouch. In other words, your actions tell me that you think you know about my situation already. Even if Ash hadn't warned me, I would still have the upperhand.'_

* * *

"So, even the teachers left?" Suzaku asked.

"Yeah, so us three are the only ones who know you." Lelouch explained over lunch as Ashford rushed over. "Ah, Suzaku, this is my brother-"

"Hey, long time no see, Knight O' Five!" Ash smirked as he sat down. "Sorry I haven't been able to talk to you since you were knighted, I've just been spending some quality time with my brother."

"No, I completely understand." Suzaku replied, much to Milly's and Shirley's surprise and Lelouch's groaning.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Shirley asked in shock.

"Oh , err, did I just say something I wasn't supposed to?" Suzaku asked with concern.

"It wasn't you who said something wrong…" Lelouch sighed, slamming his forehead against the table.

"Oh, I never told you two, did I?" Ash asked. "Right, I'm the Knight of One."

"EEEEhh!"

"That's why we didn't tell you…" Lelouch sighed as Shirley grabbed the scruff of his neck and lifted him off the table.

"W-wait, Lulu, you knew and you didn't tell us!"

"Yep." He sighed, completely devoid of energy.

"WHY!" she shouted, shaking him violently.

"Because this is how you'd react." Lelouch sighed.

She dropped him angrily. "Honestly…" she pouted, then returning to concern as Lelouch's head hit the table loudly. "Lulu!"

"He's fine." Ash told her. "If anyone can get by losing a few brain cells, it's him."

"Thanks for the concern." Lelouch sighed, getting up and rubbing his head. "So, yeah. That's why you don't recognise anyone Suzaku." He told him, changing the subject.

"Hey, you actually saw Zero's face, didn't you?" Milly asked Suzaku. "What kind of person was he? Is it true that Zero's a woman?"

"What about the rumour that he was really Prince Clovis?" Shirley asked. "Or some other prince from another country?"

"Hey, you can tell us, right?" Lelouch asked, egging Suzaku on.

"Forgive me, but I really can't." Suzaku apologised. "It's classingh!" he grunted, wincing as a persian gnawed in leg.

"Hey, isn't that Arthur?" Shirley asked. "You brought him with you?"

"Wow, hasn't he grown?" Milly asked, kneeling down to pet him.

"Well, whatever." Lelouch sighed. "How about you?" he asked Ash. "You've seen Zero's face, haven't you?"

"Hey, I can't tell you either!" Red protested.

"What, not even to your older brother?" Lelouch taunted as bedlam ensued around Suzaku, the girls and the cat on the opposite side of the table.

* * *

"From your contact with him, did you notice anything?" Villetta asked Suzaku, analysing the tapes of Lelouch in the command room.

"No, not really." Suzaku admitted.

Villetta nodded. "Then, we can conclude that the target really hasn't regained his memori-"

"Hold on." Suzaku stopped her. "I think we should continue the investigation."

"Why?" Red asked. "You doubt our surveillance?"

"There's the matter of C.C. to consider as well." Suzaku countered. "Just continue playing the brother as you were-"

He quickly froze as he felt a scythe hovering on his neck.

"Playing?" Red asked in a deathly tone, standing behind the scyther which had its blade to Suzaku's throat. "Lelouch_ is _my brother, and don't forget who outranks who here."

"I apologise, my lord." Suzaku nodded, and Red recalled the scyther, keeping his glare on the Japanese Knight.

"The student council are hosting a party for you in three days." Villetta continued, choosing to ignore the confrontation. "Get confirmation again there."

"Understood." Suzaku nodded, rubbing his neck. "That scyther's been trained to just miss the jugular, hasn't he?" he asked Red.

"Actually, I'm teaching it boxing." Red said casually.

"Boxing?" Suzaku asked, interested despite himself. "Why would you do that?"

Red rubbed his chin with a smirk. "For the closest shave a man can get."

* * *

"Sir?" Lelouch asked his teacher, removing the lens for his Geass. "**Would you please ignore all anomalies related to Ashford and I?**"

"Fair enough." His history teacher replied, turning around past the approaching Ashford and walking away. "Don't skive too much now boys."

"Yes sir." The two brothers lied.

"Villetta's the only one left now, isn't she?" Lelouch asked Red once his contact had been replaced.

"Yeah, but Suzaku's onto you as well." Red sighed.

"That's fine, only to be expected." Lelouch shrugged. "More importantly, there's a new transfer student that's asking about you."

"Eh? Who?" Red asked. He paused, frowning, his Geass beginning to flare sporadically. "Lelouch, why is my ariados-man sense tingling?"

"Because I've betrayed you, brother," Lelouch said with an evil grin. "Betrayed you to the person whose desire to kill you is matched by no other."

Red froze, staring at Lelouch with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Lelouch, what did you-?"

"BASTARD!"

Ash turned around to get blasted into the air by a hydro pump from Misty's gyrados.

"HAHAHA!" Lelouch burst out laughing, watching his brother sail across campus. "Feel better?" he asked the enraged gym leader.

"A little." She admitted, slipping him a soda pop. "Still, you'd think he would've at least called."

"I am admittedly the one with the more morals." Lelouch smirked as Red landed atop the school roof. "Then again, I sold my brother out for a soft drink, so I'm not exactly one to talk."

Misty giggled.

* * *

"Oh man!" Dome Superstar Tucker laughed while storming Victory Road on his latias. "They call this a victory road? This is simply too lazy! Where's the challenge? Where's the delight? If this is the test for trainers in Area 11, then they mustn't be all that, can they~?"

He swooped around the attacking trainers and the wild onix, laughing with glee as he did so.

"Oh?" he asked, seeing a man mount a tyranitar. A gale whipped up around them, catching dust and rock to trap him within a sandstorm.

"I don't know who you are," the Glaston Knight warned, "But this is the end for you!"

"Sorry darling." The superstar chuckled. "That kind of pokémon is fabulous for defending buildings, but against something elegant like my latias…"

The Knight realised who his opponent was. "I see how it is. Knight of Ten, Dome Superstar Tucker!"

"Thank you, thank you, you're too kind!" the man bowed on his latias. "I'm here to test you handsome men on your combat strength. Now… try and stop me~!"

"Very well." The knight replied as his men surrounded the superstar. "We won't be able to stand the humiliation of losing to you either."

"Yes, yes~!" Tucker sang. "Come at me with all your might!"

"You don't need to tell us!" one knight shouted, launching a Dark Pulse from his mount.

The superstar's dragon dodged and replied with its own ice beam. The tyranitar, realising how powerful the attack was, shrugged it's rider off the moment the beam hit, encasing in a solid block of ice. "Thank you love!" he shouted, spinning around to fight the next knight. "Can you withstand it~?"

"STOP!"

Everyone stood stock still as Suzaku walked into the battle. "That is enough." He continued. "The fight has been decided."

"Is that a judgement as the Knight of Five?" the head Glaston Knight growled.

"Yes." Suzaku replied as Tucker leapt from his mount and began skipping to Suzaku. "It is."

"Suzakuuuu~!" Tucker shouted, giving the boy a huge hug. "Why are you in such drab clothing?"

"This is my school uniform." Suzaku told his fellow Knight of Round. "I wear it to school, which I just came back from. And don't give me advice on what to wear."

"But you look Sooo~ handsome in white and blue!" Tucker protested. "Black and Gold just isn't_ you_~. Honestly, you'll never catch yourself a man looking like that~!"

Suzaku held his tongue as a young girl on her latios landed next to them. "Finished already?" she asked sadly.

"Yeah, Suzaku says that people just aren't ready for my greatness just yet!" Tucker announced with a swoosh of his hands.

The androgynous knight sighed, patting her latios' neck. "I know, me too. Next time, okay?" she murmured to him.

'_Knight of Eight, Salam Maiden Annabel.'_ Suzaku thought to himself. _'There's more than enough manpower here. Lelouch, let's make everything clear at the party three days from now.'_

* * *

"HELLOO EVERYBODY!" Milly shouted into the microphone. "AND WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL BUTLER'S AND MAIDS COSTUME PARTY TO WELCOME KNIGHT OF FIVE SUZAKU BACK TO OUR SCHOOL! BUT FIRST, A WORD FROM OUR GUEST OF HONOUR!"

She turned to Suzaku and Lelouch, both of whom were standing there in tuxedos. "Erm, do I have to?" he asked, somewhat thrown off by the student council president's overly-revealing maid costume.

"Of course~!" she sang. "President's orders~!"

"Just give up now." Lelouch told him, trying not to look at Shirley, who was wearing a skimpy white apron over her black one-piece, with the expected cuffs and laces around her neck, wrists and head. "You know you can't talk her out of anything when she's like this, hence why Shirley isn't running screaming to the nearest bathroom."

"I-I CAN BE DARING TOO!" Shirley shouted. "Geez…"

"Yeah…" Suzaku sighed, picking up the microphone. "I know…"

He took a deep breath, and…

"Peeeerrrr!"

* * *

"Alright, get Diethard in through Lilycove city." Lelouch ordered once he was alone on the rooftop. "Make sure he brings Rakshad and oh no she didn't…"

_\_ "Zero?" _\_ Silver asked from the other end.

"I'm sorry, but someone on this end has just done something very stupid so I'll have to call you back." Lelouch told him, hanging up the pokénav.

Lelouch vaulted over the banister and released his crobat, flying him down to kidnap the costumed C.C. before the boy handing out flyers for the world's largest pizza saw her.

"What're you doing here!" he hissed at her, turning crobat around to drop them both back onto the roof without attracting too much attention.

"I need to retrieve that." C.C. told him, pointing at the flyers the boy was handing out.

"Why are you so…_ stubborn_ about this!" he snapped. "It's just a freakin' pizza!"

"It's the world's _largest_ pizza." She corrected.

"So the dough is less even and you might not get some crust, big whoop!" Lelouch sighed.

"You're such a pushy boy." C.C. told him, standing up.

"Shut up you witch!" he growled, getting to his feet and leading her away from public vision. "Don't you understand the situation you're in?"

"The emperor is looking for me, using you as bait." C.C. told him.

"That's right." Lelouch told her. "Suzaku's here, as well as another woman I can't use my Geass on."

"You should me more careful with those." C.C. sighed.

"I used Geass on her back when I thought it had unlimited use." Lelouch snapped. "It's your fault for not explaining it properly!"

* * *

"From Cute girls…"

"To mature ladies!"

"WELCOME TO THE 'CHOOSE YOUR POISON' SWIMMING CLUB AQUATIC MAID CAFÉ!"

Shirley joined the applause. '_Getting Miss Villetta to join us was such a good idea!'_ she congratulated herself. _'And it looks like she's actually having some fun, too!'_

'_Shirley…'_ Villetta growled with a perfect smile on her face. _'I will murder you a thousand times over for this.'_

She watched as the scumbags around her ogled her body in her miniscule thong and the white apron tied carefully around her bare back and neck. _'I wouldn't even be a teacher if it wasn't for this mission dammit!'_

She briefly remembered Ohgi telling her about his past life as a teacher, and the fake smile faded slightly.

* * *

"So, the one who gave the Emperor the Geass and informed Suzaku about mine is the same person?" Lelouch asked the witch, who was sitting on the edge of the roof looking at the trees below. There weren't any passerbys nearby, so it was a safe place to talk.

"Yes," she replied, "But knowing anymore of this will get you—"

"I don't think I can get into any more trouble than I already am, do you?" Lelouch asked her flippantly.

There was a moment's silence, then C.C. gave him a name.

"Cyrus." She told him.

"Cyrus." Lelouch repeated. "Was Suzaku given a Geass too?"

"I highly doubt that." C.C. sighed. "In fact, I doubt that your friend is capable of receiving a Geass at all."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?" he asked.

C.C. hesitated. "You must understand that I don't understand the full nature of the Geass." She told him. "In fact, considering the time you spent on Mirage Island, it's likely that you have a greater sum of knowledge of its history than I, albeit not in context."

"Just tell me what you know and I'll believe, witch." Her warlock snapped.

"Suzaku is straddling the line between human and pokémon." She told him. "I do not know how, nor do I know why, but he is human enough to be affected by the Geass, but too much of a pokémon to receive one."

"I see…" Lelouch nodded. "So that's one mystery that we shall have to solve together."

"Lulu!" Shirley's voice rang from the stairs leading down into the building.

Lelouch looked around quickly for a place to hide C.C., and spotted Red on the ground below, waving his arms. _'Perfect timing, although I suppose I have his Geass to thank for that…'_

"Say, C.C., you wouldn't happen to know if Ash has his snorlax with him by any chance?"

"Actually, he did mention that had it, but why is that-"

Her question was interrupted as Lelouch lifted her up and tossed her straight off the three storey rooftop. Seeing Red scramble for a ball, he turned around to smile at the swimsuit-clad Shirley charging for him. "Can I help you?" he asked, stepping towards her so she didn't see the commotion below.

"Miss Villetta seems to be avoiding me, so I was wondering if you could… weren't you just talking to someone?"

"Nope." Lelouch lied. "Just you and me all alone up here."

'_Alone…'_ she thought, looking away to prepare herself. _'Shoot, I think this may be my chance!'_

She turned back to face him. "You know, Lulu- AH!" She recoiled, seeing a lumbering mountain of fat had taken the place of her long-time crush.

"Sorry, I appear to be inside a snorlax's mouth right now." Lelouch told her, grimacing at the musty heat and the slime.

He felt Shirley begin to pull at his legs, and he gulped, took a deep breath, and grabbed on the pokémon's large, dangling tonsil.

_'The things I do for victory...'_ Lelouch grimaced, holding his breath as he pulled. Hard.

It threw up.

* * *

"Ew, ick ick ick ick!" Shirley groaned, trying to get the worst of the chunks out of her hair as Lelouch ran over to the edge of the rooftop.

He saw Ash below him recall the snorlax into a lure ball and helped a shaky C.C. to her feet, who glared at Lelouch and gave him the finger.

Lelouch signed an apology and waved to his brother to clean her up and take her to the pizza, before turning around and dealing with Shirley.

"Sorry about that." He apologised. "One of my brother's pranks."

"I'll kill him." Shirley growled. "I'll never get this out of my hair- urp!" she gagged, covering her mouth, but that only made it worse.

"They do hold a lot in their stomachs, don't they?" Lelouch managed, rubbing her back to ease her nausea, before helping the girl out of the yellow slop. "Come on, I don't know about you, but I need a shower."

* * *

Shirley snuck Lelouch into the swimming club's showers, were they probably spent a good two hours trying to get the stench out.

It didn't work, but Shirley left Lelouch in there once the event had ended.

"Oi!" Villetta shouted once it was beginning to get dark. "Is someone still using the showers? What're you still doing in here?"

The lights were killed and Villetta screamed. "Sorry for snatching your apron, miss." Ash sneered in the darkness. "I just wanted to make sure we all stayed in the dark."

"Red…" she growled as Lelouch stepped from the shower, fumbling for a towel. "You betrayed us…"

"Miss Villetta." Lelouch smirked in the darkness. "The woman who was elevated to the status of baroness after uncovering Zero's identity to the MI5. however, she really works for the Black Knights in the background."

"What!" she snapped. "I'd never-"

"Ohgi told me all about you." Kallen said from her hiding place in the darkness. "Of course, once I relayed that information to Lelouch, we quickly put two and two together."

"Wave mail is a wonderful thing." Lelouch smiled. "One can send a message to another even when one is bathing." He reached for the change of clothes Red had left him. "Now, if the knowledge about your relationship with Ohgi Kaname were to become public, well, you would instantly lose the status you worked _so hard_ to attain." He smirked, pulling on some trousers. "Don't you want to be reborn into a new person?"

CLICK

"DAMMIT C.C.!" Lelouch shouted as the lights were turned on.

"What?" she asked, as Villetta reached for a weapon that wasn't there.

There was, in fact, a lot on Villetta's person that wasn't there.

She snarled at everyone, covering her chest and scanning the room for a weapon. "We don't want you dead." Kallen said. "Rather, we wish to make use of you."

"I'd sooner die than betray my country." She snarled.

"That's fine." Lelouch replied. "It just so happens that two of the people in this room are princes of Britannia."

"Eh?" she asked.

"What, didn't they tell you?" asked Lelouch, his eyebrows raised in mock surprise. "They didn't inform you that I am a prince, cast aside by the empire? Clearly they don't hold you in as high regard as you deserve."

Villetta's eyes widened in shock as she realised what Lelouch was implying. "H-how dare you… what are you-?"

Lelouch smirked. "I'm saying I wouldn't be surprised if they just tossed you aside once they learn I have reawakened. How sad, especially after you had just been made a Baroness. Your relationship with Ohgi would be the final nail in your social coffin"

"Of course, that can be avoided, and you don't even need to disobey your superiors to do it, either," Kallen said coolly.

"This is an order from the Knight of One." Ash told the petrified baroness with a smile. "Abort your search for C.C. and just… _ignore_ any suspicious activity around the campus. That's all we want."

Villetta snarled, then reached out for her apron. "Fine." She snapped. "Just… go."

"Thank you Miss." Lelouch told her as, Red tossed her the robe with a grin. "Glad to be working with you."

* * *

Thanks to the portable telepads, it was easy to get C.C. and Kallen back to the Chinese Embassy.

So, Lelouch was left standing on the rooftops thinking of a way to deal with Suzaku as the rest of the school danced below.

"Lelouch." Suzaku greeted, coming up to him.

"That's no good." Lelouch sighed with a smile. "The main character should be on the stage."

"Ah, no, everyone's enjoying themselves." Suzaku sighed, before looking at Lelouch in his jeans and T-shirt. "Why aren't you in a suit?"

"Snorlax threw up on me." Lelouch told him with a grimace. "Ash's payback for me helping Misty get back at him."

Suzaku winced with sympathy. "That sucks." He told him with a smile. "There was actually something I wanted to tell you."

"What was it?" Lelouch asked, turning back to the dancers.

"I plan on becoming the Knight of One." Suzaku said.

"Ashford's not gonna like that." Lelouch tutted.

"Well, he's just going to have to deal with it. There's a privilege granted to the Knight of One that states that he can receive an Area of his own choosing." Suzaku explained. "I plan on asking for this Area… becoming the ruler of Japan."

'_I wonder if Ash asked for an Area…'_ Lelouch thought, turning back to Suzaku.

"I lost a great friend and an irreplaceable woman." Suzaku told him. "To prevent me from losing anyone else, I will obtain that power. So, the Japanese people don't need Zero anymore, do they?"

"Hmm, indirect rule, eh?" Lelouch asked. "You aim for a protectorate?"

Suzaku pulled out his pokégear. "This person has the answer to that." He said selecting one of his contacts. "The new governor of Area Eleven who will take office next week."

"A mere student like me gets to talk to a governor?" Lelouch asked as Suzaku put the pokégear to his ear.

"This is Kururugi." Suzaku said into the phone, stepping forward. "Yes, he's right in front of me. Yes." He handed the phone to Lelouch.

"This is troubling, you know." Lelouch sighed, taking the device and turning from Suzaku. "Talking to high-ranking people is just…

_\_ "Brother?" _\_ Nunnally asked.

Lelouch crapped bricks.

_\_ "Brother, this is you, right?" _\_ Nunnally continued, completely oblivious to the trap she was leading her brother into. _\_ "It's me, Nunnally. I'm heading over there as the governor… um… are you listening?" _\_ she asked him. _\_ "Brother? It's me, Nunnally!" _\_

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

First off, I'm aware of the fact that Lelouch Geassed Gao Hai in the original. I don't care either.

Second, you know what would be really, really helpful for Lelouch right now? Someone who could stop Suzaku's perception of time allowing Lelouch to speak to his sister without revealing that he's regained his memories.

Oh, wait…

_**Varanus:**__ Fun times ahead, that's for sure. Eh, I wouldn't worry. I'm sure nothing bad could ever possibly happen next chapter._

Does anything bad happen in the next chapter? Lemme think, that's the one where they go to rescue Nunnally- Oh.

Yeah, Next chapter, after Lelouch's epic escape from Suzaku's trap, might as well be filler really. Honest.


	26. Nightmare of Nunnally

Yeah… I still have no idea how Lelouch is getting out of this one.

Now, there's a rather decent fight scene in this chapter that I wrote to a song i found on Youtube. I reccomend listening to it during this chapter. Check it out **lunardragon2607's channel, and open up the Last Decision (Devil Survivor) extended track.**

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_\_ "Is that you brother?" _\_ Lelouch's beloved sister repeated. _\_ "It's me, Nunnally!" _\_

'_If your memory didn't recover, then you shouldn't know anything about Nunnally…'_ Suzaku thought to himself. _'Now, Lelouch, give me an answer…'_

'_You bastard…'_ Lelouch thought angrily as Nunnally's voice continued to ask for her brother in his ear. _'I can't lie to Nunnally…_

'_Why not?'_ Lelouch thought to himself. _'With all the other lies… I've been lying to her all along, haven't I?  
'Come to think of it, with all the lies she's been put through, maybe it's time she realised how false this world is. If I play Suzaku's game and pretend not to know her, then she'll know something's up, and she'll ask questions.  
'But, wasn't I trying to achieve a world where Nunnally's innocence could be preserved? A world where she wouldn't learn of the lies and hatred everyone has for each other because there wouldn't be any? Don't I want to preserve her happiness?  
'But, if I acknowledge her, then Suzaku will arrest or even kill me, which would end her faith in me and Suzaku, and that bastard of a father won't have any further use for her. With his survival of the fittest bullshit, she'll be disposed of by tomorrow morning.  
'So, I should pretend to not to know her, for both our sakes… dammit, why does my eye HURT!'_

_\_ "Lelouch?" _\_ Nunnally repeated. _\_ "Big brother, are you there?" _\_

'_That's it…'_ Lelouch realised rubbing his contact out of his eye and whispering "Nunnally…"

He then clutched his face and groaned, "Arr**rg**hh**uu**ug**hh…**" he moaned, tumbling to the side and grabbing the stone banister for support. "**Wh**y… **Nunn**ally… Ar**gh…** **Suzaku…**" he asked, turning to him and revealing his Geass. "**Wh-what's happening..?**"

"You IDIOT!"

Suzaku turned behind him to get punched in the face by Ashford, who rushed to Lelouch and covered his Geass with his hand. "It's okay!" he told his brother as Suzaku got back up. "It's alright brother, you're going to be fine!"

"**Ash…**" Lelouch groaned, slipping the contact into the cuff of his wrist. "**Who's… Nunnally..?**"

The younger sibling got with the programme immediately and confronted Suzaku. "You bloody IDIOT!" he shouted. "What the hell do you think you're playing at!" he turned back to his older brother and undid his tie. "Alright, Lellow, I need you to listen to me very carefully." Ashford explained. "There's something wrong with your eye, and it's affecting your memories. I'm not allowed to explain it, but I need you to trust me, okay?"

Lelouch snivelled, then nodded with a groan.

"Alright then." Ash told him. "I need you to close your right eye and let me tie this around it until we can get you home. We can't let anyone else see it or it'll spread to them too."

"**W-will it stop..?**" Lelouch asked him, playing the role of the terrified student perfectly as the tie was wrapped around his head.

"Hopefully." Ash told him, pulling the knot tight. "Just ignore any of the fake memories your eye's giving you, focus on me, and we'll be fine, alright?" he helped his brother up and glared at Suzaku. "We'll discuss this later." He snarled, leading his brother away.

Suzaku watched them leave, then picked up the pokégear that Lelouch had dropped. "Nunnally, are you still there?"

_\_ "Suzaku?" _\_ Nunnally asked. _\_ "Wh-what happened to Lelouch?" _\_

Suzaku sighed. There was a chance that this would all blow into his face, so now was a good time to come somewhat clean. "We think Lelouch might be Zero."

_\_ "Eeeh?" _\_

"The Emperor erased his memories so he could live happily without hurting more people. However, Zero's come back, so I wanted to know if Lelouch remembered you, because if he did, then that would mean that he was Zero again."

_\_ "Suzaku…" _\_

"However, it seems that he doesn't remember, but talking to you has stirred up his memories, so I may have just created a large problem." He sighed. "I'm sorry for using you like this."

_\_ "How cruel!" _\_ Nunnally shouted at that.

"Eh?"

_\_ "Making a trap like that for brother, that's horrid! Even if he was Zero, no, he can't be Zero, but even so, why would you do something like that!" _\_

"Nunnally." Suzaku replied. "Zero drove Euphie to kill countless Japanese. I want to stop that from happening again, even if I have to do some bad things to do i- Nunnally?" he asked, hearing only the dead tone of Nunnally hanging up. "Nunnally!"

* * *

"Alright, so you're gonna wear this eye patch for a couple of days, fake some headaches, pretend that you've had an eye infection, then back to the contact." Ash told him. "Good plan, considering how quickly you came up with it."

"**Thank you.**" Lelouch told him with a smile. "**Though, did you know that Nunnally's the new governor of Area Eleven?**"

"Wait, what?" Ash asked. "Seriously?"

Lelouch nodded. "**She's taking over next week.**" He explained. "**Also, is it true that Knight's of One can ask for their own Area?**"

"I took Cambodia." Red shrugged. "Why I kept insisting on taking you there so I could restore your memories and prepare for your second rebellion full time."

"**Area thirteen…**" Lelouch chuckled to himself. "**Of course.**"

* * *

Over the next week, there was a large commotion over the concealed identity of Area Eleven's new Governor and, of course, Zero.

The Black Knights kept somewhat quiet during this time, however.

It was inevitable, really, since many of them had to re-train their new and old pokémon, as well as get back into shape themselves after a year's imprisonment.

Suzaku retained a respectful distance from Lelouch during this time, however, as did Villetta.

Still, just because there wasn't threat of being discovered or having to fight battles each night, that wasn't to say that the week wasn't stressful for Lelouch in its own ways.

"**WHOA SORRY!**" he shouted, running out of the bathroom and slamming the door behind him, the image Misty's naked back in the shower burnt into the retina not under an eye patch. "**ASH!**" he shouted.

The door behind him opened. "Yeah?" Lelouch's younger brother asked, making him jump.

Ash was also wet and only wearing a towel.

Lelouch palmed his face. "**Dammit Ashford…**" he sighed, walking away.

* * *

"We're having difficulties getting the rest of the Black Knights from China into the Embassy." C.C. replied. "Unfortunately, these teleporting tiles have a short range."

"**I see.**" Lelouch nodded. "**That was only to be expected.**"

"Area Eleven's new governor is going to be Nunnally." C.C. pointed out, cuddling Jiro. "Will you be able to fight your own sister?"

Lelouch stopped dead. "**Fight?**" he asked. "**Against Nunnally?**" he laughed bitterly. "**I thought you hated jokes.**"

"You can't exactly ignore the current situation." C.C. reminded her accomplice.

"**It's not worth talking about.**" Lelouch told her. "**As it is, Nunnally will just become another political tool.**"

"Unable to walk, a blind girl…" C.C. sighed. "They'll dispose of her once she's fulfilled her purpose."

"**I'm trying to do something to stop that!**" Lelouch snapped. "**The Black Knights exist for that purpose! Zero exists because of Nunnally!**"

"I know that this is your reason to live, but…"

"**I will create a world where Nunnally and I can live happily.**" Lelouch told her. "**Ashford too. For that, I Must Destroy BRITANNIA!**"

He slammed his knife into the table, taking a deep breath. "**This Cyrus… is he in Britannia also?**"

"I don't know." C.C. admitted, comforting the spooked Jiro. "But I can tell you that he is your fathers- the Emperor of Britannia's first and closest companion."

"**Companion?**" Lelouch asked, suddenly questioning his father's orientation.

"Both of them have sworn…" C.C. sighed. "To Kill God."

"**Kill… you mean Arceus?**" Lelouch asked.

"Arceus is another pokémon; it is not a god." C.C. explained. "Legends name it as the creator of all things, but it still came from mew, just like any other race of pokémon."

Lelouch sat back. "**I see. Then what is this, 'god'?**"

"I do not know." C.C. told him, before tilting her head. "How long do you intend to wear that thing anyway? Is the lens I crafted for you not satisfactory?"

Lelouch tore the eye patch from his face angrily. "**Only a few more days before this 'eye infection' of mine ceases.**" He told her.

"I see." She sighed. "It suited you somewhat."

"**Whatever, witch.**" Lelouch sighed. "**I, on the other hand, miss depth perception.**"

He began jotting down notes on a pad of paper, then handed it to C.C. "**Relay these orders to the others.**" He told her. "**Have them ready in a couple of days.**"

* * *

Two days later, Suzaku led Tucker and Annabel to the Chinese Embassy, only to find the Black Knights had already left.

"Yes, we've just confirmed it." Xingke told him. "I'm just sharing this information with you as a gesture of good will to show that we don't intend to become Britannia's enemies."

"Is Zero with them?" Suzaku snapped.

"It appears so." The Chinese soldier replied. "It appears that they used teleport pads they hid underground. Unfortunately, we cannot trace them because of they were destroyed by the incendiary devices they left behind."

"Dammit…" Suzaku snarled, before realising something. "They're going to Nunnally…"

"That's simply won't do~." Tucker stated with a serious frown.

"We should try to intercept them." Annabel suggested. "Let's go."

* * *

"_**Our goal is to capture the new governor!**_" Zero declared in the sky atop his lugia as his army of Black Knight followed him towards the wailord ship S.S. Crescent. "_**No matter what happens, she is not to be harmed UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! UNDERSTAND!**_"

"YES SIR!" came the resounding replies from his men, riding on their various flying pokémon.

'_Whatever Red did that convinced Winona to join__ our cause with a crate of Feather Badges__, I'm thankful__.' _Lelouch thought gladly to himself. _'HM techniques truly are the key to winning these battles… We need to recruit more gym leaders.'_

"_**AEROBLAST!**_" Zero ordered as the wailord's maw widened to attack. Lugia's tornado ploughed right through the behemoth's massive hydro-pump, turning the blast into a vast cloud of water vapour.

The whale surrounded itself with a spiral of water which intertwined with a spiral of wind. _'Aqua ring and safeguard.'_ Lelouch recognised, before grinning. "_**Launch Ice and Electrical attacks! Create an opening!**_"

* * *

"No…" Drake muttered, watching the screen as the rebels took over the vessel he was in charge of. "No, this will not happen…"

"Sir?" an aide asked as his captain pulled out a syringe filled with blue liquid. "What are you going to do?"

The old captain stabbed the needle into his arm and injected the drug into his veins. Immediately his heart began throbbing as red and green trails bulged up his arm. "I recommend dosing up yerself laddie."

Drake then marched over to the big red button marked "DO NOT PUSH" and pushed it.

* * *

It was at this point that Toudou, Chiba, Asahina, Senba and Rivalz landed atop the metal cage holding the base to the Wailord, sending their pokémon to land on after jumping from their aerial mounts. "Be fast, and be devastating. We are the Holy Swords of Japan, the Divine Storm." Toudou declared, his Zangetsu lumbering forward.

"Let's see how you can do, newbie." Asahina smirked at Rivalz on his regirock.

"Gotcha." He smirked, shouting as his stone giant charged forward.

* * *

Under the belly of the whale, in a closed off chamber, vials smashed.

And tentacles pulled themselves out.

"_Deeoxyss…"_

* * *

Lugia screeched and dived headfirst into the massive cloud it and the wailord had created, disappearing from view.

Lelouch then turned to the Zero hidden amongst lugia's feathers behind him. "_**I trust you can continue here?**_" he asked.

"_Yeah, got it."_ Silver replied as Zero flew into the fog on his crobat. "_Psycho… RETREAT FOR NOW!"_

* * *

"_Deeooxxyss…"_

Private Smith looked behind him "Hey, is that…"

The soldier's partner realised what was slithering up the corridor. "Oh shit." He gasped, dropping his gun and scrambling his person for his vaccine.

He dropped it as a sharpened tentacle pierced his throat, then flicked his head off just as Smith rammed his syringe into his own arm.

Smith sat down by the edge of the corridor, whimpering as the effects of the drug took hold over his body, staring in horror as the mass of tentacles devoured his partner's body. "Oh shit… It… Oh no…"

The abominations slithered over to him, as if scrutinizing him, then passed over him like the angel of death faced with rams blood over a door frame. Smith heaved a wretched sigh of relief.

Then they burst open the airlock, and Smith was dragged out into the vast sky, screaming to his death.

* * *

Zero strode through the corridors of the S.S. Crescent, searching for his target. _'Nunnally… I'm coming to save you…'_ he thought as he cut down two soldiers with his katana, his lucario and sandslash supporting him.

"_DeeEEEOOOoooxxxxXXyyyySSSss…"_

Lelouch leapt back to see two of the abominations facing him, but these ones were different.

They had humanoid bodies, and only four tentacles.

Two coming from its right shoulder, two coming from its right hip. However, its left limbs were remarkably humanoid.

'_A newer model…'_ Lelouch realised, drawing his pokémon back and summoning charizard to incinerate them.

They walked through the flames, uncaring of the dragon's puny flame.

So Lelouch recalled his charizard and did the only sensible thing.

Run like hell.

* * *

Rivalz leapt from his regirock and nuked the nearest deoxys as his pokémon beat through another with its sheer strength. "Dammit!" he spat. "They upgraded them already!"

"On the plus side, they don't appear to be that stable." Senba grunted, his registeel launching a Superpower though the mass of demented flesh. "Just kill them before they get chance to realise that they're supposed to be killing you- GAHH!"

"SENBA!" Chiba shouted as the old man was dragged into the mass of flesh. "NOO!"

"STAY BACK!" Toudou ordered, leaping from his regigigas with a katana to slice through the deoxys while his Zangetsu beat them back. "He's gone."

Registeel, though returning to the wild, fought with his dead master's brethren out of respect, firing an ancient-power along the wailord's back as ho-oh flew over them, drowning the abominations in black flames.

* * *

Zero rushed down the corridor, opening the door as a green tentacle shot past his neck.

He slammed his armoured arm into it, crushing it into the wall as it dissolved. _'So they still haven't resolved the issue of their half-life…'_ he realised, sending out his lucario to launch a dark pulse, which obliterated the two decaying pokémon.

'_Wait them out, and they're fragile.'_ Lelouch nodded to himself before entering the room. _'Now, for the important part of this mission…'_

Zero strode down the garden towards his sister Nunnally.

"You're Zero… aren't you?" she asked him. "Are you here to kill me? Can you please wait?"

The masked terrorist stopped in silence.

"I think what you're doing is wrong!" Nunnally declared to him.

* * *

"Have these things gotten bored or somthing? They're much easier to kill now!" Asahina snarled, his regice blasting the horde with an ice beam that froze and shattered the monsters into pieces.

"Their DNA is unstable." Rivalz explained, forcing his palm through the already melting face of a deoxys. "The longer they remain out of their pokéballs, the weaker their bodies are and the easier they are to kill."

"Isn't that wasteful?" Chiba asked. "Why not return them and heal them?"

"They only cost a thousand pounds each to make, the price falling by the week." Rivalz spat. "Your typical deoxys is cheap, born into pain and kills everything it can in its short half-life."

"Quite an expert, aren't you?" Asahina asked, directing his regice to launch another ice beam

Toudou quickly dodged a thunderbolt as the Dome Superstar Tucker rode in on his latias. "Wonderful darling~!" he shouted, swooping over Annabel's latios as it launched a lustre purge that smashed down registeel. "Suzaku~!" he called over to the knight on the altaria. "Go get your Lancelot and join the show~!"

"This is a battle, Tucker." Suzaku growled, sickened by his allies enjoyment of the bloodshed.

* * *

"_**Britannia is wrong.**_" Zero told Nunnally. "_**The Emperor thinks that power is everything. Do you agree?**_" he asked her.

"That…" Nunnally managed, before trailing off.

"_**Governor Nunnally.**_" Zero sighed. "_**You have been used.**_"

"Are you talking about the crippled me that will gain everyone's sympathy?" Nunnally asked him. "If so, then you're wrong."

"_**Hm?**_"

"This is my wish." Nunnally told him.

"_**Your wish?**_" Zero asked the girl in confusion.

"I believe that the world can be changed with gentle ways." She replied. "That's why I wish to continue what Euphie started, to reconstruct the Special Administrative Zone of Japan."

'_Reconstruct!'_ Lelouch thought desperately. _'__She can't really be-'_

"Zero, will you join me?" Nunnally asked, offering her hand, just like Euphie did once. "You can renew yourself, just like Euphie did."

"_**Renew?**_" Zero asked in anger. "_**Like ****Euphie?**_"

"Yes, like I did."

Zero span around to see a blonde woman in glasses and a short ponytail standing behind him with a pokéball in her hand. She was dressed in a dark blue suit, her blouse's top three buttons open, revealing just a hint of cleavage.

But Lelouch recognised that face, and he never thought he'd ever see such a stern, professional expression on it.

"_**Euphie!**_" he repeated, but this time in shock and sheer disbelief. "_**Wh-what're you doing here!**_"

"I honestly didn't believe that you actually could make anyone obey your bidding." Euphie continued, fingering the ball in her hand. "But I can't understand why you'd betray me like that at the last second."

Lelouch couldn't formulate a response. For this to happen…

No, this was impossible…

_'HOW DOES SHE KNOW ABOUT THE GEASS!'_

* * *

Rivalz ran along the steel frame, jumped into the air and kicked off the registeel's clawed arm. Either in retaliation or understanding, it swung its steel limb, rebounding Rivalz into the air who flew towards Tucker with red energy surging from his steel palm.

Tucker smirked and drew one of the six wings from his back; each made from sharpened dawn stone, and swung it into the palm, matching its energy output with his own strength. "Wh-wha..?" Rivalz managed, before getting hit by an axe kick from Tucker, getting sent flying over the deep blue waves below.

"RIVALZ!" Kallen shouted, abandoning her attack on the dying deoxys drones to save him.

Bluebeard just smirked, throwing two balls into the air to summon his golduck and garchomp. Golduck grabbed garchomp, holding it close like a kangaskan cub, before launching a wide stream of water for garchomp to glide on.

Rivalz landed on his pokémon, who worked together to help him fly back up to the battle. "Hoooh, now that's impressive." Tucker smirked, reversing his blade and drawing another. "Let's dance~!"

"Can you keep up?" Rivalz taunted, making a beckoning 'come on' sign with his blazing titanium fist.

* * *

Suzaku flew from the S.S. Rayquaza in his Conqueror flight armour alongside his mewtwo, Lancelot. "Lloyd, Zero is inside the ship with Nunnally, but he's also out here fighting on his lugia."

_\_ "The one outside is a dummy, but don't underestimate him." _\_ Cecile replied.

"Understood." Suzaku replied, flying in to battle.

* * *

The young girl jumped from her latios and strode towards Toudou, Asahina and Chiba, unafraid of their pokémon as she drew a rifle and tossed two pokéballs into the air.

An alakazam and an entei landed beside her, just as a second entei rushed along and tackled her own.

"Wait, there's two of them!" Asahina shouted in shock as regice blocked a bullet that would have killed his master.

Chiba gave a glance in the sky where the decoy Zero was flying. "Looks like Silver sent his Kerberos to watch our backs." She smirked, reminding herself to thank the kid after the battle.

"All of you." The Salam Maiden demanded, loading another shot into her rifle. "Come at me, don't give me time to rest. Just come and kill me."

She aimed as her alakazam and latios rushed into the fray, and a bullet hit the centre eye of Rivalz's regirock.

* * *

Silver turned Zero's lugia around and flew for the approaching White Reaper and Lancelot "_Aeroblast!"_ he ordered, and the dragon launched the pillar of wind.

"I'll draw it off, you neutralize it!" Suzaku ordered. Lancelot wheeled to the side and prepared to form a Shadow Ball while Suzaku dove dead ahead.

'_Even if it does obey Zero without question…'_ Silver thought with a scowl, _'That doesn't mean Lugia is _stupid_...'_

Lugia twisted its head around suddenly to hit Lancelot by surprise, sending it hurtling into the ocean, only for Suzaku to shove a burning hand for Zero's mask.

Silver leant back, curving onto his back and spinning into a kick aimed for Suzaku's torso. He wasn't winded due to his armour, but he was sent back far enough for Silver to pull out a gun and fire some shots at his opponent.

* * *

Annabel glanced at Suzaku's battle with Zero in the distance as she rolled under Chiba's suicune. Seeing the wave of water about to drown her in the beast's wake, she took quick stock of her surroundings and spotted a column of ice hurling for her from the left and a shockwave of Ancientpower coming from the right.

More importantly, she spotted the blind-spot two meters beside her where the combined shockwaves of the attacks would completely miss. She stepped smoothly into that space and raised her rifle, letting the rush of the arctic column freeze the water before it hit her, while also absorbing the Ancientpower blast.

Annabel sighed at the lack of challenge before firing a shot at Zero's head.

* * *

The bullet hit the crack in Zero's helmet, shattering it instantly and making Silver drop his gun. "Damn!" he shouted, watching the fragments of Zero's mask fall into the ocean.

"A decoy then." The masked Reaper taunted. "I knew it."

Silver snarled, then grinned, tossing the cape into Suzaku's face and swan-diving into the ocean below.

'_What's that supposed to achieve?'_ Suzaku asked himself with a frown.

He was answered as Kallen launched a sacred fire from above and lugia an aeroblast from below, encasing Suzaku in a maelstrom of holy flame.

"Survive that bitch!" Silver laughed, plummeting towards the ocean. His humour faded as Suzaku tore through the bottom of the Aeroblast, slashing lugia in the mouth along the way.

"I MUST LIVE ON!" Suzaku shouted, completely possessed by the Geass as the god of the storms screamed in anger.

"You have got to be joking…" Silver groaned as his own crobat swooped in and carried him away from Suzaku. "Alright, let's get clever then."

* * *

Toudou and Rivalz both jumped around Tucker's swirling blades as his venusaur's vines swept around them, eager to grab and ankle to throw into the ocean.

Rivalz managed, to catch one, sending a wave of energy down it as Toudou parried two of Tucker's crystal blades with his katana.

"Hm, now that's skill~." Tucker complimented, before flicking up his foot, carrying a third blade between his bare toes to force Toudou back. "I might actually have to get serious." He chuckled, tossing the blade into the air and catching it between his teeth, slipping his foot back into his purple boot as Toudou nursed his bleeding face. "Om on ren~!"

"_Toudou-san?"_

Tucker stopped.

Toudou stopped.

Rivalz stopped.

Everyone standing atop the falling wailord stopped.

"_Are you there Toudou-san?"_ the disembodied voice repeated. "_Can you hear me Toudou-san?"_

"S-Senba..?" Toudou asked, recognising the voice. "I-I thought you died!"

"_That's right Toudou-san."_ Senba's gruff voice continued. "_I did die Toudou-san. They tore me to pieces and consumed my flesh as I screamed, Toudou-san."_

"But… if you died…" Chiba asked.

"Then how are you speaking now..?" Tucker asked, dropping the blade from his lips as he was somewhat spooked by the sudden lack of wind for a ship half a mile in the air. And the disembodied voice. But mostly the lack of wind.

"_I'm with them now Toudou-san."_ Senba continued. "_I'm with Deoxys now Toudou-san."_

"Wh-WHAT!" Rivalz shouted, the immediate expert on deoxys. "What're you talking about!"

"_They tore out my vocal chords and probed my mind, Toudou-san."_ The voice answered. "_Now they're using me as their mouthpiece to speak with you, Toudou-san."_

"THEY'RE JUST POKÉMON!" Asahina shouted. "NOT EVEN THAT! JUST FOOT SOLDIERS! COOKED UP IN A LAB TO KILL FOR A FEW MINUTES BEFORE DYING!"

"_You're wrong, Toudou-san."_ Senba's voice replied to Asahina. "_The Deoxys are so much more than that, Toudou-san. They wanted you to know that, Toudou-san. Before they did this, Toudou-san."_

"D-did what..?" Toudou managed in sheer shock.

"_This, Toudou-san."_

* * *

"Captain Drake!" a lieutenant shouted. "Something's wrong with the wailord!"

"DEAL WITH IT!" he shouted, returning his focus to the monitor. "Damned Knights, why did they stop?"

Then the green tentacles tore through the command room, obliterating anyone inside.

* * *

The garden shook, and Nunnally almost fell out of her wheelchair. "Ah!" she gasped, holding on tight. Euphie steadied herself, glancing around in slight panic.

Lelouch, however, was still too far in shock to comprehend what was happening.

* * *

The wailord yawned.

That's what it looked like at first.

Except a yawn only opens the mouth so far.

It doesn't peel the flesh back as a mass of tentacles crawls out of the owner's throat, exposing its massive blue head to the world and pushing itself to freedom, like an ancient, extinct jellyfish surging through the ocean.

The hollow carcass of the wailord hung limply from the S.S. Crescent for just a moment, before tearing through its restraints and falling into the ocean below.

The S.S. Crescent had a herd of mantine to help ease the load from the wailord, but without the main whale, all they could do was slow down the ships' descent to the ocean below. Worse, the weight of the colossal deoxys put further strain on them as it latched onto the ship and crawled atop, its hundreds of tentacles lashing out the air.

Had the wailord still been more than skin, it would have caused a tidal wave that would have drowned much of Kanto and Johto. As it happens, it floated atop the water like a horrific, deflated balloon, leaking blood into the ocean from the bits that the deoxys hadn't licked clean.

And Deoxys descended with those atop the falling S.S. Crescent.

"_This is what they wanted you to see, Toudou-san."_ The Deoxys said with Senba's voice to no-one in particular. "_Does it frighten you, Toudou-san?"_

* * *

Lelouch snapped back into reality as the ship began to fall. "_**What?**_" he shouted, rushing over to the door and opening it.

The corridor was filled with soldier's corpses, each one with a mass of tentacles growing out of their mouths. There was a horrible snapping sound as their mouths were stretched too far for their ligaments to hold, ripping their jaws clean off.

"Euphie?" Nunnally asked as the other girl gasped in horror. "Wh-what is it?"

"_**The ship is sinking.**_" Lelouch lied, jogging over to Nunnally and carrying her onto her back. "_**I'll help you and Euphemia out of here, and then she'll fly you both to the mainland, understand me?**_"

"Wh-what about everyone else?" Nunnally asked.

"_**They're fighting my men.**_" Lelouch lied, leading Euphemia through the corridors before the tentacles realised that someone was there. "_**But nobody's hurt, yet. Just cover your ears and hold on.**_"

His pokenav began buzzing in his ear and automatically connected. An emergency call.

_\_ "Zero, things are really turning to shit out here!"_\_ Silver shouted. _\_"I'm dodging Reaper, but there's a massive Deoxys, it ATE the damn wailord-"_\_

"_**Execute Failsafe Tempest.**_" Lelouch ordered without a shred of hesitation.

_\_"What?"_\_

"_**The ETA of the Abyss is ten minutes. When it arrives, we execute Failsafe Tempest.**_" Lelouch repeated. Euphie gave him a worried look.

_\_ "Guh, damn appropriate too. We'll hold out until then."_\_ Silver said, disconnecting.

Lelouch and Euphie continued to run, Nunally on his back keeping her ears trained for any noises. There was lots of crashing sounds from the ship sinking, but what made her fearful was the lack of people nearby. Surely there would be soldiers nearby, why hadn't they…

"_DEEeeoooxxxyyyyssss…"_

"What was that?" Euphie asked.

"_**Nothing.**_" Lelouch lied. "_**Just keep moving.**_"

"_Sir?"_ a young man's voice asked as a mass of tentacles crawled out of one corpses throat. The head of the body made a sickening crack and deflated like a grotesque balloon, blood spurting from the soldier's frozen open eyes. "_Sir, can you hear me sir?"_

Zero gritted his teeth, and handed his sister over to his half-sister, who could surprisingly take her weight. "_**Can your pokémon fly?**_" he asked her.

"Y-yes." Euphemia replied, sobbing slightly.

"_**Then run.**_" Lelouch ordered. "_**Run, don't look back and whatever you do, don't let Nunnally get hurt, understand!**_"

"L-Lelouch?" Nunnally asked. "I- It is you, isn't it?"

Zero removed his mask and smiled at his sister. "**I** **need you to pretend that you don't know about me for a while, alright?**" he asked, stroking her blind face. "**Euphie will keep you safe.** **Just remember that I love you.**" His eyes met Euphie's terrified ones. "**I love you both.**"

He replaced the mask and faced the now upright deoxys. "_**GO!**_" he shouted.

Euphie ran, carrying the screaming Nunnally as Zero drew a blade, sending out his metagross to face the psychic blast of the oncoming deoxys.

Lelouch had bet that the steel and psychic hybrid's powerful defenses would have been able to withstand the deoxys' powerful abilities, and it had.

Right until it had used Night Shade, stunning metagross long enough for it to be hit by a Zap Cannon at point-blank range. As the steel behemoth collapsed into the ground, the deoxys looked past it into Lelouch's eyes.

"_They won't make it, sir."_ It told him. "_The deoxys that holds me is nothing to the one outside, sir."_

"_**Then I'll have to kill you both.**_" Zero snarled, charging at the monster as metagross rose up behind it like a nightmarish machine.

* * *

Suzaku stopped mid-way though charging a fireball to throw at Silver to look at the abomination floating above. "Wh-what is that..?"

The command Lelouch had given Suzaku all that time ago still held power. He had to live on.

But Suzaku refused to run.

"I need you to get everything the Black Knights have got and help me fight that thing." Suzaku commanded, possessed by the Geass. "I don't care what I have to pay to get you to do this, but I need your help or that thing will kill us all."

And Silver believed him.

He opened his pokégear. "ALL UNITS!" he shouted into it. "FAILSAFE TEMPEST IS GO IN T- MINUS EIGHT MINUTES! KILL THAT THING!"

"This is Suzaku Kururugi, Knight of Five." Suzaku declared on an open channel. "The Deoxys has become self-aware and hostile. I am ordering its termination, effective immediately - all surviving men, women and pokémon in the immediate area are hereby pressganged into the Britannian army for the duration of that monster's existence, understand?"

_\_ _"Is that your last decision, Toudou-san?" __\_ a gruff voice in his pokégear replied. _\_ "_The Deoxys would find it more fun if you ran, Toudou-san. Would you please reconsider, Toudou-san?"_ _\_

* * *

"I agree with Suzaku." Tucker told Toudou, readying his blades. "Whatever that thing is, it wants us _all_ dead. We should work together."

"Just a minute!" Toudou shouted. "Senba's still inside that thing!"

"_Sorry, Toudou-san."_ The Deoxys replied. "_I died a while ago. The Deoxys is just using my voice and memories to speak with you, Toudou-san."_

"It's just using Senba's corpse…" Asahina growled, fists shaking in anger. "For his honour, Toudou-san."

"Don't say that." Rivalz asked him. "Please just don't say that."

"_I agree, Toudou-san."_ Deoxys added. "_It is mildly frightening for them when you mimic Deoxys's way of speech, Toudou-san."_

Toudou grunted. "Zangetsu." He ordered, leaping aboard his regigigas. "Let's destroy it."

"_Just promise me that you'll entertain Deoxys, Toudou-san."_

* * *

Hearing the mental order, Alakazam teleported itself and its master away from the deoxys to give them some breathing room. "_**So, that is what you truly are.**_" Zero said to the abomination before him, panting for breath. "_**A parrot using a dead man's tongue and memories to speak.**_"

"_You could say that, sir."_ The creature replied, slithering towards Lelouch. "_Of course, I can still think, even though I am a part of Deoxys, sir."_

"_**And what do you think now?**_" Lelouch asked, probing the dead man.

"_I think that you're going to die, sir."_ The young man's voice replied. "_I think that all you can do is run or hide, but either way Deoxys will kill you, sir."_

"_**YOU'RE WRONG!**_" Lelouch shouted. "_**We Can FIGHT! WE CAN LIVE!**_"

"_I highly doubt that, sir."_

"_**I know we can.**_" Lelouch smirked. "_**Because you said it yourself, didn't you? You can still think!**_"

"_That's right sir."_ Deoxys replied. "_My brain is inside of Deoxys, sir. But you cannot fight it sir. It's just too powerful sir."_

"_**Never underestimate the power of the human spirit, spawn.**_" Zero commanded, opening the slot on his mask for his Geass and glaring at Deoxys. "**DIE!**"

"_Yes sir."_ The deoxys replied. "_Right away sir._"

The deoxys stood still in confusion for a moment, then tore its chest open and latched onto a large black organ, ripping it out and discarding a mass of grey matter and some other human body parts, before lashing out and grabbing another corpse's head with its tentacles, consuming its head with its tentacles until only a bloody hole where its oesophagus once was remained.

"_How did you do that Captain?_" a different voice asked. "_How did you make Willie die, even though he was dead, Captain?"_

* * *

Silver landed atop the falling S.S. Crescent and whistled his entei over to him as Lancelot rushed past him with an orb of pure chaos in its hands.

The deoxys batted the perfect pokémon aside with a red appendage, which Chiba and her suicune rushed along, spreading ice along it as she fired her gun into the monster.

It blasted her into the sky with a psychic attack, only for Annabel to catch her on her latios and drop her back onto the falling ship as she drew her rifle and began firing shots at the monster.

A green tendril lashed out to stab her, but Tucker flew up, slicing it in half with his blades and jumping from his latios onto the amputated limb, stabbing two blades into the flesh under his feet and dragging them along as he ran.

Regigigas, despite taking a while to get moving, was quite nimble once it had warmed up, so it was more than capable of leaping into the air and planting a heavy superman punch onto the beast. Tentacles rose to strap it down but Toudou's keen strikes of his katana reduced them to ribbons before they even had a chance.

Asahina, on regice, kept a distance, focusing on freezing and shattering deoxys's wild limbs, but they kept regenerating at a rate he could barely keep up with.

Kallen flew along ho-oh, before leaping onto her scizor to ride deoxys's tracks as ho-oh burned its back. Gurren hissed at the rising tentacles and brought its red claws to bear, cutting at them with such fury that after mere moments it went from gouges to bloody hacks that split the limbs into meaty chunks

Lugia flew without a master, but fought bravely and wildly in an attempt to help. Not daring to attempt an Aeroblast with its allies so close, it began to work in tandem to registeel and regirock, who drew out the beasts with Ancientpower blasts while the beast of storms dove in to savage it with Sky Attacks.

Rivalz was too busy to focus on regirock right now, instead fighting melee with his garchomp. His arm was the perfect weapon against Deoxys, the lightest graze turning its flesh into pudding. He knew that if he could just get close enough to that giant, blue face, then he could obliterate the eldritch behemoth with a single blow.

"_It's so pathetic, Toudou-san."_ Deoxys sighed with Senba's voice. "_You actually think that it's possible to kill me, Toudou-san."_

Above the monstrosity, the sky shook.

"Draco…" a voice from within a swirling mass of blue flame growled. "**MEETEEEOOOOORRRRRGGHHH!**

* * *

Lelouch snarled at his opponent. It was fast, it was nimble and it wasn't tired like he and his pokémon were.

Yes, this monster had picked off his pokémon, one by one, and now Lelouch was forced to rely on his own strength. Even if he had used Geass, Lelouch doubted it would have slowed the abomination down. It's not like there were any shortage of corpses around.

"_Do you understand why Deoxys cannot be beaten, Captain?"_ Deoxys asked. "_It's just too strong, you can't win Captain."_

Lelouch glanced at the clock behind Deoxys from behind his mask. _'Only two more minutes until my victory…'_

"_How long do you think you've been fighting, Captain?"_ the Deoxys asked. "_Did you forget that this ship was falling towards the ocean, Captain?"_

Lelouch hadn't.

"_You'll die from the impact long before Deoxys begins to decay, Captain."_

Lelouch allowed himself a smirk before running down the corridor, the deoxys giving chase.

* * *

The huge monster coiled itself up in its tentacles to shield itself from the bombardment of blue flames from the sky. "NOW!" Silver shouted, giving Rivalz the signal to launch his garchomp through the air, carrying him right to the centre of the beast.

His fist burst into flames as if he was gripping a miniature sun as he melted through Deoxys's limbs, and through its face, and its head, burning a way right through the monster.

Rivalz turned back to his allies and temporary allies with a huge grin, which faded into horror as Deoxys unfurled itself.

"_Deoxys wishes to apologize, Toudou-san."_ Senba's voice explained monotonously. "_An attack like that will not harm a creature of this size, Toudou-san."_

Then it began to rain.

* * *

"_**LUGIA!**_" Zero shouted, swan diving from the falling wreckage as the water came down. "_**TEMPEST!**_"

* * *

Lugia swooped down for his master, roaring at the water as the heavens burst.

As Lelouch was caught safely by Lugia's telekinesis, he smirked, seeing the waves grew violent.

Water was coming from below, and water was coming from above.

Lugia roared again, and the winds grew.

Another beast roared, and lightning flashed in the sky.

* * *

**_  
****\**** /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ****/****  
\ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - /****  
\ - - - - - - - KYYYYOOGRE! - - - - - - - /  
****\ - - - - - - - - - - - - -****- - - - - - - - - - - - /**  
**\**** /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ ****/**

* * *

The beast of the ocean burst from the sea, roaring with rage alongside the beast of the storm.

Their fury combined created a perfect storm.

"_This doesn't change a thing, Toudou-san."_ Deoxys stated calmly above the wind. "_You will still die here, Toudou-san."_

At this point, Kallen, Toudou, Asahina, Silver, Rivalz and Chiba all smiled, recalling their pokémon and running over to the edge of the falling base and dived over the edge.

"HEY!" Tucker shouted. "You're just going to leave us here with this thing!"

"_**I'd advise you to run, Suzaku Kururugi.**_" Zero declared atop lugia's head as it ascended in the rain. "_**You have done all that you could. **__**There is someone awaiting you in the Indigo Plateau."**_

"LANCELOT!" Suzaku shouted, rushing to grab Annabel and Tucker as they recalled their pokémon. "GET US OUT OF HERE!"

Once they teleported, Zero laughed.

"_How do you intend to fight Deoxys alone, Toudou-san?"_ the Deoxys asked. "_You couldn't even kill its weaker sibling below, Toudou-san."_

"_**I lacked the necessary storm.**_" Zero declared, backing up to the edge of the whirlwind surrounding them as Kallen and her Ho-oh soared around the tempest. "_**But now…**__**LUGIA!**_" he declared, his pokémon swooping around to face the wall of wind. "_**HYDRO PUMP!**_"

And at the opposite end of the maelstrom, Kallen's ho-oh rose to match its sibling. "Naoto…" whispered Kallen, before her eyes grew hard. "It's time to teach this bastard what death really means! _FIRE BLAST!_"

* * *

Burning flames and freezing water surged around each other in a spiral, both heat and cold fighting each other for dominance over the other as the whirling winds blended the irreconcilable elements.

Faster the winds spun, dragging over each other.

The friction created energy.

The spiral created an electromagnet.

The storm created lightning.

The rain made sure it hit its target.

* * *

"_**NOW!**_" Zero declared as sore burns became visible on what was left of Deoxys through the smoke. "_**FINISH IT!**_"

Lugia and ho-oh together dived into the maelstrom.

* * *

Once they arrived, Suzaku couldn't remember a thing, and he realised that he had retreated under the influence of the Geass.

"Dammit!" he shouted. "Lancelot, take us back!"

The mewtwo refused, instead opening a hologram of what was happening.

The three knights watched in awe as the beast of the storm and the bird of the morning flew in perfect harmony through the wind and rain, working almost as surgeons, to dissect, incinerate, _obliterate_ the abomination that the three knights could not.

"Those two, right there." Red commented from behind them. "_They_ are true trainers. They don't care that what they're facing is impossible to defeat. They smash through any obstacle in their way and grasp victory with their own hands. That is how a true trainer is."

"I'd almost forgotten…" Tucker gasped, before smiling. "Well, it's only natural for one as fantastic as myself to forget what it means to truly fight for an impossible victory."

"We have grown slothful." Annabel nodded. "This will not happen again."

Suzaku's eyes remained glued to the image. "_Zero…_" he snarled.

* * *

In the end, there was nothing left. No trace was left behind to mark it as ever having existed. The flames had burnt the flesh to ash, the water had diluted the blood and sickly fluids, and the wind had scattered whatever scant remains afterwards to the corners of the ocean.

In death, at least, the unearthly aberration had become part of the natural cycle of things. Perhaps this was a kindness.

'_Britannia wanted to create the world's strongest pokémon._' Lelouch mused to himself afterwards. '_They almost succeeded.'_

* * *

There was a celebration party inside the Black Knight's new vessel, the Abyss.

It was a submarine built to be carried by their new Kyogre, capable of serving as a fuly fledged base with barracks and recreational facilities as a bonus. "A gift from Princess Tianzi for my husband~!" Kaguya shouted with glee, jumping for Zero. "Oh, I've missed you my love!"

"_**Please excuse me.**_" Zero apologized, brushing her aside and walking past his cheering army. "_**I need some time alone.**_"

* * *

Suzaku sighed as he collapsed onto his bed inside his dark quarters on the Indigo Plateau.

Nunally was safe, but still refusing to speak to him. He didn't blame her, but with the worries plaguing his mind, about Deoxys, about Lelouch, about his Geass order…

Needless to say it had been a more than stressful day.

And he couldn't even talk to anyone about it. He was used to keeping his silence, but at that moment he felt like he needed to talk more than he ever did before.

"Euphie…" Suzaku sighed to himself.

"Yes?" came a soft voice.

Suzaku sat up with a start to gape in shock at the blonde woman sitting at his desk. "Ah, who- wha?"

Then he recognised her. It couldn't be her, it wasn't possible it was her, but it was.

"Euphie!"

She stood up and walked over to him. "I'm sorry it took me so long." She apologised, kneeling on his bed beside him. Suzaku opened his mouth to speak, but before his confused and addled brain could come up with a response, she was already kissing him.

And at that moment he realised he didn't need to talk at all.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

So, deviation enough for you, Deviate Fish?

So, yeah. At first, I just mixed Deoxys with zombies and the Biomeat-US. Now, however, I've also mixed in the Weeping Angels, quite possibly the scariest fictional creature ever.

I mean, come on, the angels can only move if you can't see it, but if you can see it, then you can't kill it. Anything that holds the image of an angel becomes an angel, including video recordings and photographs, and if you look one in the eyes for too long, the image in your retinas becomes an angel and it's _inside your mind._

Also, you can't blink.

But yeah, brother. Change the rules, keep the personality, just give it a super deoxys army to work with, brother. I am evil, brother.

Of course, it could be worse, brother.

Deoxys could have taken Nunnally too, brother.

SHUDDER

Man, that was creepy. I do think I may have just spawned one of the creepiest creatures in fiction here.

Also, Varanus would like to apologise for giving me the idea of mass-producing Deoxys, then telling me to add in all the extra stuff to this chapter, including the fightscenes and Deoxys, which wasn't going to originally happen.

I sent him a draft of the chapter, which ended after Deoxys's birth from wailord, and he immediately cursed his decision.

I, on the other hand, regret nothing. A few nightmares is nothing for the price of some reviews.

Mind you, it scares me just writing these bad boys now.

So, yeah. Who likes this chapter? I like this chapter!

And for those of you who don't know, there was a Doctor Who reference was when Deoxys started speaking with Senba's voice.

_**Varanus:**__ No, no, it's cool, I'll give the apology myself. As I recall, my suggestion went something like this:_

"I had an idea about the Vincents- how about they be deoxys' who are only partially developed/synthethised? Real Deal Deoxys would be much stronger, a monster rivaling even mewtwo.

Hah! You could call the low-grade versions of deoxys "KNIGHTMARE-forme"!"

_Oops. My bad? And it got worse. Somehow it's lead from mutant drones that are frighteningly good at killing, ala FMA Clone Army, to this. _

_A being which seeks out other life to sustain it's own. Harvesting genetic material by devouring it's victim's brain tissue and stem, plus stealing voiceboxes to allow their STILL CONSCIOUS hosts to speak. _

_Oh, and they're psychic. Remember, psychic pokémon in this story fight by creating mental bonds with their trainers. Now imagine a mental bond with Deoxys. Yeah, it works by having the Deoxys scoop out your brain and preserving it inside its meteorite organ. Any volunteers?_

_Of course, looking back on it, I have to agree with SamJaz. I really don't regret suggesting that little thing, especially after seeing how awesome they've evolved. Did we freak you guys out? Just a heads up, it gets worse. Hope you all enjoy the show._

Oh, sure, tell them that. Scare them all away why don't you? Sheesh. And I better get some reviews over this. I worked hard on this chapter, and I need to know whether it's paying off or not. Now, as it happens, my laptops crapped out on me, again, so after this week, I'll be updating on a M/W/F schedule. Don't complain, you get this for free.

Also, Review! They are my fuel to create your nightmares!


	27. The Meaning of Zero

Alright… whew, I'm still pooped from the last chapter.

Let's have some fun with this one.

Ryuu Ranger, nope it isn't.

WWDW, that's what I was going for.

Chaos Guy, I read the special up until some way in the G/S/C arc where it ended in Onemanga, and I know it's much further on MangaFox and MangaToshokan, but yeah.

Heraklinos, I'm only warming up.

Karasu, that review was scary to read. GOOD JOB!  
For the rest of your questions, wait and find out.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_The world Nunnally desires… the world Nunnally has chosen…_

_If that were to happen…_

_Zero is her biggest obstacle._

_Nunnally's safety is guaranteed. She has the Britannian army and Suzaku protecting her._

_He's my worst enemy, granted, but he's the one I trust with her the most._

_I can trust him to protect Nunnally_

_That is, if he's not busy shaking up with Euphie…_

_Though… why can she remember? I could sense it… she isn't affected by the Geass I accidentally placed upon her… why…_

* * *

"Honestly?" Euphie told Suzaku. "I don't know."

"Eh?" he asked.

"I was in the garden, where you came to visit me, and, all of a sudden, everything clicked." Euphie explained. "I… killed a lot of people, didn't I..?"

Suzaku was about to lie, then looked down. "It's Zero's fault." He snarled. "He made you do this-"

"No, you're wrong." Euphie told him, touching his face. "It was an accident."

Suzaku sat up. "How could it be an accident!" he asked angrily. "He used his Geass on you!"

"Geass…" Euphie sighed. "So that's what it's called…"

Suzaku calmed down, lying back next to the princess.

"The Geass turned on by itself." Euphie told him. "Zero wanted me to stab him at first, making everyone lose their trust in me and starting a rebellion, but I talked him out of it. Then, he was explaining his power and it… just turned on by itself just as he was listing examples of what he could make me do."

"I don't know…" Suzaku sighed, lying back. "Euphie… Zero is Lelouch."

"I know. I knew since Mirage Island." she confessed.

"Eh!" he shouted, sitting upright.

"That was why I wanted to make the Special Administrative Zone in the first place." Euphie explained, pulling her knees into her chest as she sat up. "So we could be together, me, you, Nunnally, Lelouch…"

Suzaku put an arm around her silently as she began to cry. "It's okay." He told her, pulling her into a hug. "It's alright…"

"I… I just wanted… everyone to be happy…" Euphie sobbed. "I… didn't want anyone to die…"

"I know…" Suzaku told her, kissing the top of her head. "I know…"

* * *

"How're you holding up?" C.C. asked Lelouch as she walked into his room on the Abyss.

"**About Nunnally?**" Lelouch asked from his hammock as C.C. took a seat on his swivel chair. "**Surprisingly… well.**" He answered. "**I've** **had some other things on my mind, which helps.**"

"Such as?" she asked, opening her arms for Jiro to fly into.

"**Euphemia's** **no longer under the control of my Geass, and she remembers everything.**"

C.C. looked up. "That's impossible." She stated. "Your Geass's powers are absolute. There is no way that the effects would fade after just that."

"**I know, which brings me to a worrisome conclusion.**"

"Which is?" C.C. asked.

"**Cyrus has given someone a Geass which allows them to cancel the effects of other people's Geass's.**" Lelouch decided. "**That, or he removed my Geass in person.**"

"I was only able to restore your memories because I was there for a large part of your life as Zero, so I was able to transfer them to you mentally." She told him. "That opened a lot of holes in the Geass your father placed upon you, so everything else fell into place."

"**Are you suggesting that Cyrus could not restore Euphemia's memories of the massacre because he wasn't there?**"

"That is correct."

"**Hmph.**" Lelouch grunted, rolling over in the hammock. "**There was something else.**" He added. "**I used my Geass on a Deoxys.**"

"As a pokémon, it wouldn't have had any effect." C.C. commented.

"**I know, but the human brain inside its body obeyed my command.**" Lelouch said. "**This suggests that the Geass travels the optic nerves exactly the same for a pokémon's nerves or a humans, yet only a human brain will accept the command.**"

"So how do you intend to use this?" C.C. asked. "Cut out Tamaki's brain and plant it into a primeape? I'm warning you, it'd be a waste of a perfectly good primeape."

Lelouch smirked. **"Agreed. When I first tried it, there was no effect, but it's gotten stronger since that first day. ****I think that by using my Geass on a pokémon, I can make it flinch at the most.**"

"Jiro, go get him." C.C. commanded her jirachi.

"**Get me a pie.**" Lelouch ordered the oncoming pokémon, who stopped for a second, then continued its attack, striking him with all of its might with a furious Double-Edge attack.

It wasn't very effective…

Lelouch smirked as Jiro rose to try another assault. "**Thank you, C.C.**"

"It is a useful discovery." C.C. complimented as the little pokémon squeaked and started jumping up and down on top of Lelouch. "But I doubt that it'll work on a pokémon more than once."

"**I don't intend to use it for that method at all if I can help it.**" Lelouch told her, pushing the jirachi off him. "**It's a lot of effort to buy a cheap second, but that wasn't the only thing I realised.**"

"You've been thinking." C.C. sighed, rubbing the bump on Jiro's head "What else?"

"**Remember when you told me that Suzaku straddled the line between human and Pokémon?**"

* * *

"My head is still spinning from yesterday~!" Tucker chuckled the next morning, sitting down at Annabel's table in the Knight's private restaurant without any announcement. "Why was Suzaku so grumpy about it, though~?"

"You can ask him directly," Annabel said without looking up from her breakfast, pointing at the doorway to the restaurant where Suzaku had just appeared in her peripheral vision.

As soon as the Dome Ace saw Suzaku, his eyes lit up with giddiness as he spotted something not even Annabel could see.

"Oooh, Suzaku~!" Tucker shouted, skipping over to his fellow knight. "I see you got lucky last night~!"

"Eh?" Suzaku asked. "Wait, what!"

"Don't be shy~!" Tucker told him. "I can just tell these things, you know~?"

"Well… yeah…" Suzaku admitted.

"Knew it~!" Tucker sang happily, pulling Suzaku close and dragging him to breakfast. "So, who's the lucky fella~?"

"WHAT!"

* * *

"How do you do everyone?" Nunnally asked at her inauguration. "I am Nunnally Vi Britannia of the royal family, 87th in line to the imperial throne. Due to the unfortunate untimely loss of Duke Calares recently, I shall be assuming the role of Area Eleven's governor."

"I cannot see nor walk properly." Nunnally continued. "That is why I ask for everyone's help. So, I look forward to working with everyone." She concluded, bowing in her extravagant wheelchair.

"It is rather early, but I would like to ask for everyone's co-operation about something." She added, sitting upright. "I would like to re-establish the Special Administrative Zone of Japan."

The room was filled with gasps and mutterings, even Suzaku turned to Nunnally in shock.

"Inside the SAZ, Britannians and Numbers will be treated equally." Nunnally continued. "And Elevens will regain their old name of 'Japanese'."

"In the past, unfortunate happenings took place within the Special Administrative Zone of Japan." Nunnally admitted, turning her ear towards the blonde woman in glasses at her side. "But, I believe that what it aimed for is a goal worth seeking; that of a good, and gentle world…"  
"I would also like to ask everyone from the Black Knights to take part in Japan as well." Nunnally said. "You cannot have a country within an embassy forever. If we can admit our mistakes, then this time we can make this work. _That_ is what I believe.

* * *

"Did you put her up to this?" Suzaku asked Euphie afterwards.

"No, actually." She replied. "It was her motivation for applying for the role of Governor in the first place. I merely regained my memories to request to be chosen as her aide."

"Alright." Suzaku sighed. "But it won't work. There's… just too many bad memories of the last SAZ."

"I know." Euphie nodded sadly. "But still… we have to try."

* * *

Red didn't notice Lelouch leave during the live broadcast of Nunnally's inauguration, so he wasn't there when Lelouch took the midnight train going anywhere.

At first, he had ignored these thoughts and focused with C.C. on the curiosities of his discoveries. But to actually see it… to see the sister he loved begin to build something he knew he would utterly shatter if he took even one step forward…

'_The world doesn't need them anymore.'_ Lelouch thought to himself. _'Zero, the Black Knights, any of it.'_

His pokénav began buzzing. Q-1.

Lelouch took the device in both hands and snapped it, tossing it out of the window.

* * *

"It's the same shit, all over again." Tamaki groaned inside the Abyss. "They just put a pretty girl puking some pretty words and they expect us to line ourselves up against the wall so they can shoot us in the backs."

"So, what're we going to do?" Ohgi asked.

"What do you think?" Tamaki shouted. "Wage war on Britannia!"

"Even though it took all we had, plus three Knights of the Round just to stop that monster they used last time?" Minami asked.

"That's why we have Zero!" Tamaki shouted.

"Indeed." Princess Kaguya announced, walking into the room. "What you say is correct, Tamaki, but why is Lord Zero not here?" she asked. "His newlywed wife is here for him! I didn't even receive any mail from him while I was in the Chinese Federation…" she sighed, putting a finger to her cheek.

"Who knows?" Blue yawned. "Maybe he's having an affair with another woman?" Tamaki burst out laughing and Ohgi tackled him to shut him up.

"Don't go saying things like that!" Kallen shouted at her, before spinning around to the young girl. "It's okay, he's not, it's not true Princess Kaguya!"

"I don't mind." The princess replied. "Rather, I would be relieved if that were the case."

"Eh?" Kallen asked in shock.

"As they say, 'Heroes are fond of sensual pleasures'." Kaguya quoted. "So, if we consider the physiology of mature men…"

"Wh-what're you talking about!" Kallen shouted as Tamaki and Ohgi stopped wrestling each other in surprise, Blue laughing her head off.

"It's wonderful that you are more of a woman than you appear." C.C. complimented the princess, appearing from nowhere as she always did.

"I thank you for taking care of him during my absence." Kaguya told her, offering a hand of gratitude.

C.C. looked at her questioningly, then took it. "There's no need to thank me for that." She replied.

"And you too Kallen." Kaguya said, offering another hand to the red-haired trainer. Kallen hesitated, so the princess grabbed her hand forcibly and pulled it in atop of C.C.'s and her own. "We three who support Lord Zero- ah!" she realised. "We're the three court ladies!"

"Whooo!" Blue cheered with a huge grin. "Go Zero's bitches!"

* * *

Walking into the deserted bar with Misty, Ash immediately spotted who he was looking for. "Found him! Just give me a sec, Mist."

Strolling casually up to the pool table, he grinned at the teenager playing alone. "Hey, well if it isn't Gold! Care to have a game?"

"Been a while since I've seen you, Red," replied the kid, returning the grin. "Go ahead and grab a cue. I doubt it's pool you want to talk about though."

"Oh yeah? How did you figure?"

"'Cause you're always whining to me when you want something," the kid told him, netting two balls at once with a carefully aimed shot. "It's always 'Gold, breed these pokemon for me!' or 'Gold, save me from petrification!' or 'Gold, come training on Mt. Silver with me'. Not that I'm complainin' but why did you even single me out anyway?"

"Because you beat me."

"Once." Gold pointed out.

"Heh, once was enough. But I'm not here to reminisce. I'm here cause—"

"You want my help. Yeah, I guessed that the moment you pretended you wanted to play pool. So what do you want?" the younger teen asked, lining up his next shot.

"It's about my brother. I want you to help him out with something… big." Red replied vaguely.

"How big?"

Ash told him.

Gold missed the shot. Specifically, his shot was so askew it sent the white ball hurtling off the table, smacking off the walls and breaking the light bulb above them before landing in Gold's coat pocket. He turned to face Red, disbelief on his face. "You're kidding, right? No, no even you would…"

"C'mon, it'll be fun! Whattya say?" Ash said, grinning. His mood sombered quickly though. "Seriously though, we need powerful trainers. I'm only asking the ones I trust the most but-"

"I'm in." said Gold, placing the white ball back on the table and returning to his game of pool. Ash couldn't help but notice the cue was trembling so much Gold could barely aim it.

"You sure? You don't have to answer straight away."

Gold made the shot. The ball ricocheted around the table, potting three others. "Sure as sure. Only reason I haven't joined up already is cause I didn't want to have to kick your ass again."

Ash smirked. "Yeah, glad I'm safe then. Thanks."

Gold just nodded as Ash walked back to Misty.

"You sorted what you wanted to do?" she asked him.

"Yeah, he's gonna—" Ash paused, then glared angrily to the side.

"What's up?" Misty asked him.

"For some reason, I have an incredible urge to go punch my brother." He replied, Geass humming under his cap.

* * *

"PAY UP, ASSHOLE!"

"Quit yapping and give us the money first!"

"Loser!"

"Stop…" the beaten man on the floor gasped. "You guys are Elevens like me, aren't you?"

"You want the Refrain?" Surge asked the man with a smirk. "Bring me my money first."

"Japanese devouring other Japanese…" Lelouch muttered, glad to have something to take his mind off Nunnally for a few more seconds. "By becoming dogs of Britannia…"

Surge laughed. "He said Japanese." He told his Elevener underlings, clicking his finger.

"We don't need no sympathy from Britannians." One growled, cracking his knuckles as he approached Lelouch menacingly. "We are Elevens!"

"Damn School boy." Another glared, walking behind Lelouch. "We don't need people talking shit about what we do for a job."

"They are happy about the fact that they're being used by me, kiddo." Surge explained, walking over to Lelouch, grabbing his face.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Lelouch shouted, his right eye aching as Surge backed off slightly. "**Go suck a dick.**"

"Heh. Alright." Surge replied, turning to one of his underlings. "You, drop 'em."

"**You.**" Lelouch ordered another man. "**Dance.**"

"Whoo!" the man he just Geassed declared as he moved around the alley awkwardly. "Yeah! Alright!"

"**Bark like a growlithe.**" Lelouch ordered a third man, before turning to the man who Surge was sucking at. "**Make sure he doesn't stop. Spin on the ground like rattata in a wheel.**" He ordered a fourth man, then turned to the fifth. "**Take Surge up the ass.**"

Lelouch watched the madness unfold before him, and laughed.

* * *

"I don't mind if he doesn't come back here." C.C. told herself, tossing Zero's mask up and down in his chambers. "All that matters to me is that he stays alive. No…" she chuckled. "Just to quit being Zero is easy. It's just not that romantic of a thought."

She caught the helmet. "But… at this rate, the Black Knights are doomed."

Jiro hovered near her, tilting its head questioningly. "Jirai?"

"Yeah, 'Zero exists for Nunnally's sake'." C.C. sighed. "That's what he said, Jiro."

* * *

"So, this is where you were." Lelouch looked up at Kallen looking at him in disdain. "Shinjuku. Where Zero began- no, where you started everything." He looked down at his wrist as Kallen approached him. "Lelouch, I have something for- that better not be what I think it is."

"**Refrain.**" Lelouch answered, gesturing to the pistol-like object in his hand, aimed for his rolled-up wrist. "**Kallen, you know about this too, right? You can go back to the good ol' days…**"

"DON'T JOKE LIKE THAT!" Kallen screamed, kicking the drug out of Lelouch's grip. "So WHAT if you failed once! Just think of another plan to get her back! Command us like you always do!" she shouted desperately. "You want me to kill someone? Search for some bait? Track down mew for crying out loud! Just tell me what to do and I'll do it!"

"**Then…**" Lelouch sighed. "**Comfort me.**"

"Eh?" Kallen asked, stepping back from Lelouch as he stood up.

"**That's what Ashford does when he's depressed.**" He told her, stepping close to her, his hands seeking her waist. His touch was light, but it felt like iron chains to Kallen, holding her in place without hope of escape. He leaned forward, his face becoming far, far too close. "**It's something women can do, right?**"

This was all wrong. His voice was all wrong. This wasn't the Lelouch she…

"No!"

"**Guh!**" he grunted, hands reaching for his crotch, but Kallen's knee was currently occupying that space.

"Snap out of it Lelouch!" she begged him. "You're Zero right now! You carry the responsibility for showing us a dream! Even if that was a lie, you have to see it through! So… KEEP LYING UNTIL THE VERY END! This time…" she cried. "Show us Zero's act… properly!"

She leant back, tearing herself from his grasp, and ran.

Lelouch almost followed her, but collapsed against a girder instead.

* * *

_Why not just forget about it?_

_It's all just painful and cumbersome until the end…_

_Be it Zero, the Black Knights, or even Nunnally…_

_No._

_Nunnally's my sister._

_It'd be for her sake too…_

_If Zero disappears, Area Eleven will become peaceful._

_I could return to being a student._

_I could travel the world with Ashford._

_I could grasp happiness…_

_What's wrong with wanting to be happy?_

_It wouldn't hurt anyone…_

_I could turn back now and pretend that it never happened…_

_Silver even said that he'd take over as Zero…_

_That mask…_

_It's heavy._

_Not only the Japanese, but the entire world's hope rests on the shoulders of he who wears it._

_But… someone needs to…_

…

_A long time ago, Nunnally, Suzaku, and I talked about something._

_We wondered what happiness would look like if we could give it a physical form. _

_If I'm not mistaken, I think it was Suzaku that said that the shape of happiness might resemble glass. _

_His reasoning made sense. He said that even though you don't usually notice it, it's still definitely there. _

_You merely have to change your point of view slightly, and then that glass will shine when it reflects the light. _

_I doubt that anything else could argue its own existence more eloquently._

_But… just like glass… Happiness is so… fragile._

_It's easy to break._

_One slip, one badly thrown stone, and it shatters into a thousand pieces._

_I remember that time we broke a window at Suzaku's house._

_They couldn't repair it, so they had to replace the window with a new one._

_Happiness that has been destroyed cannot over be repaired completely…_

_Not without burning the cracks…_

_But…_

_One can find the same happiness elsewhere. _

_A new happiness, one that makes you feel the same as you once did…_

_Indeed… this fight of mine is no longer for Nunnally…_

"Pika?"

Lelouch looked down at the yellow rodent.

"**You know, your friends are under attack down in Vermillion.**" Ash told Lelouch, tossing him a hat. "**You might want to cover your eyes.**"

"**My eyes?**" Lelouch asked, taking the hat and standing up.

"Pika!"

Lelouch looked down at the Light Screen pikachu was holding up.

_Two Geass-branded eyes stared back. _Lelouch stared at his reflection in shock, then focused, attempting to toggle it as he used to. His right eye, his older Geass, remained active, but his new left eyed Geass could shut down, like his old Geass could when he first got it. _'Could it be… my Geass has evolved?'_

"**Use it.**" Red told his brother, grinning from behind his Geass. "**You've got a world to save.**"

Lelouch reached up to the cap of his hat, and pulled it down over his face. "_**You made a cap that converts into Zero's mask…**_" Lelouch smirked. "_**You really are an idiot, Ash.**_"

* * *

"_**Q-1, can you hear me, Q-1!**_" Lelouch said into his new black pokénav as Britannian soldiers attacked the Abyss. "_**Down trim, 50 degrees. Head for point…**_" he consulted the map on his device. "_**L14. Emergency Dive.**_"

He smiled at the encouraging cheers from the other end of the line as Lancelot came out of one of the boats. "_**Launch a Surf wave attack.**_" Lelouch ordered, and smiled as the three foremost ships capsized under the massive wave, and the Britannians realised just who they were dealing with.

All of the underwater soldiers using Dive were thrown into the air. "_**Now, use Dig.**__" _Lelouch declared. "_**Silver. Get out there with a heavy ball. Take a pokéflute for afterwards**_"

_\_ "_Are you -^- nuts?" __\_ Minami shouted. _\_ _"There's nothing out here except lava!" __\_

"_**And you have an entei.**_" Lelouch pointed out. "_**Just do it. You'll find what you need once you're out there. Ohgi, focus on everyone's safety. I'll hold off Kururugi until Silver can do his part.**_"

_\_ "_WAIT!" __\_ Kallen shouted. _\_ "_Your mask is down here! Your identity-"_ _\_

"_**That is irrelevant.**__" _Zero told her. "_**You have your orders, now obey them.**_"

He hung up the pokénav and ran off the pier, landing on lugia as it rushed out from underneath the wood.

"_**BRITANNIA!**_" he shouted, flying on his pokémon, jacket flying as a cape.

"Zero!" Suzaku shouted, flying next to Lancelot. "So, this is your answer…"

"_**If you attack, you will be going against your master's orders.**_" Zero declared. "_**I will be accepting Governor Nunnally's invitation. Yes, for the Special Administrative Region for Japan! Zero shall command… That ALL MEMBERS OF THE BLACK KNIGHTS PARTICIPATE IN THE SPECIAL ADMINISTRATVE ZONE OF JAPAN!**_

"You'll… cooperate?" Suzaku managed, before steeling himself. "That doesn't mean that your sins can be erased."

"_**If I had my full armour with me, I could make a gesture about my hands being stained with blood.**_" Zero sighed, lamenting how the universe doesn't always follow narrative convenience. "_**Would you like me to go and collect it?**_"

"No…" Suzaku snarled. "We'll retreat for now… ALL UNITS!"

Zero waved at Lancelot before it turned to follow Suzaku. "_**Now, Lugia, to the Abyss.**_"

* * *

Zero strode into the throne room of the Abyss, where the Black Knight's leaders, sans Silver, were gathered.

'_Why does this base even have a throne room?'_ Lelouch pondered. _'It seems somewhat pointless considering what we're fighting against.'_

"Zero." Kallen stated. "You—"

"LORD ZERO!"

Everyone turned to see the little Kaguya tackle Zero to the ground. "I missed you so much! How could you make your wife wait for you like that!"

"_**It comforts me to see that you still possess your usual energy, Princess Kaguya.**_" Zero told her.

She smiled. "You look surprisingly handsome in civilian clothing, though." She commented. "I never would have expected it from you."

"_**You always assume you know my face.**_" Zero chuckled. "_**I never grow tired of it.**_"

"You always surprise us too!" Kaguya replied excitedly. "Announcing out of the blue that we're taking part in the SAZ like that!"

"Y-yeah." Ohgi managed. "What's up with that?"

"Like I told you Ohgi." Tamaki chuckled wisely. "We'll pretend to play along and then we'll kick their Britannian asses!"

"_**Fight, fight, fight, and then what?**_" Zero asked him, much to the shock of everyone. _**"We kill them, they kill us, and the cycle never ends."**_

"Hold it!" Rivalz snapped. "You want us to just let everything slide? I've given up EVERYTHING for this! Unlike you, tucked safely behind your little mask!"

Lelouch looked at his friend, and at Kallen, who avoided meeting his gaze. He turned his attantion at Ohgi, at Toudou, at Asahina, Chiba, C.C., Tamaki, Minami, Blue, Kaguya, and Rakshad.

"_**Let me ask you a question.**_" Zero said, removing his mask and looking down. "**What are the Japanese?**"

No-one answered.

They were too deep in shock at the sight of Zero's face.

"What does it mean to be a nation?" Zero asked, having replaced the lens to cover his right eye and cutting the Geass in his left eye. "Is it a language? Blood? Territory?"

"No." Kaguya said, the first to recover, shaking her head. "It's in the heart."

"So to be a Nation is to be of one heart." Zero asked, nodding. "So, it's a feeling within, of belonging, dignity, pride, the culture is carried in the heart. You are Japanese no matter where you are."

"So, you're just saying to accept this and try to change Britannia from within!" Toudou snapped. "Boy, we fight for independence—"

"Boy?" Lelouch asked, chuckling. "Without this boy, Toudou, you would be a dead man.

The Black Knights went into a shocked hush as Lelouch turned his gaze to the rest of them. "Without this boy, all of you would be dead. Be it a death of the body, or of the mind, or of the soul, none of you would be here today without me."

"And you think we can't exist without you, so you call all the shots?" Asahina asked, angrily.

Lelouch sighed and replaced the mask. "_Do I look more authoritive with this on?_" he asked. "_Because people listen to me when I wear this._"

"STOP SCREWING AROUND!" Ohgi shouted, grabbing Zero by the scruff of his neck. "Because I swear, if you don't get your act together—"

"Zero!" Silver shouted as he ran into the room, covered in ash and with his hair still on fire, but holding a heavy ball high in the air triumphantly. "You bloody genius!"

"_FINALLY!"_ Zero shouted. "_Someone GETS it!"_

* * *

"You're taking off from school?" Ash asked Suzaku a few days later as the student council worked on Milly's berry garden.

"Yeah." Suzaku nodded. "It's gonna get pretty hectic on my end."

"The Special Administrative Zone of Japan, huh?" Shirley asked.

"Hey, what about my garden project?" Milly asked.

"Sorry, I'll return once things are settled." Suzaku apologised.

"Hey, Suzaku…" Shirley asked. "About Kallen and Rivalz… is there really no way to help them? Like, plea bargaining or something?"

"World peace is great, but family and friends are more important, right?" Lelouch asked him.

* * *

'_Lelouch… have you really lost your memories?'_ Suzaku asked himself while inspecting the soldiers for those to work in the SAZ. _'Or, if you have regained your memories, answer me… was what happened to Euphie really an accident..?'_

"SUZAKU KURURUGI YOU TRAITOR!" the soldier screamed, charging in on his ponyta. "PREPARE TO DIE!"

Suzaku, possessed by the Geass, kicked the horse's feet out from under it and rammed the soldier's helmet into the concrete below.

'_I desired the punishment of death deep inside my heart.'_ Suzaku continued soliloquising. '_Yet you cast the Geass upon me to 'Live On'. A person like you wouldn't want me to survive out of the goodness of your heart… so why..?'_

* * *

_\_ "Yes, I suspected that that might happen." _\_ Diethard Ried told his Lord Zero. _\_ "So I sent Sayako Shinozaki along ahead of time." _\_

"Well done, Diethard." Lelouch told him. "You are superior after all. You stand out among people, a truly talented person without peers."

_\_ "Thank you very much!" _\_ Diethard replied, and Lelouch could practically imagine the reporter's face, as if he was climaxing. _\_ "It is truly an honour! Shall we continue as planned like we discussed?" _\_

"Of course." Lelouch smirked. Diethard was as easy to play as a game of chess against an expert player. "Our tactical objective may have changed, but our strategic objective has not. I'm counting on you."

"Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?" Red asked him as he closed his pokénav.

"Despite his skill in predicting the flow of events, he isn't the brightest man." Lelouch smirked. "He's so blinded with adoration for Zero that he cannot apply reason with how fake I am with him. I might as well have placed him under a Geass of unending adoration."

"Heh." Ash smirked. "You hear about Surge?"

"What about him?" Lelouch asked his brother innocently.

"He's still at it, three days later." Ash smirked. "I understand that he was dealing drugs and a general prick, but does anyone deserve that?"

"I wasn't exactly myself." Lelouch sighed. "Hopefully, Euphie will be kind enough to heal him like she was."

"If she can." Red countered.

"Yeah, there's the possibility that she was healed without her knowledge." Lelouch sighed. "No matter, I never liked the man."

"Sorry I'm late." Villetta said as she came into the empty chess club room. "Club activities went on a bit longer than expected. What do you want me for, Zero?"

"Now, Miss Villetta, you'll blow my cover like that." Lelouch joked.

She grunted. "Sorry. How can I help you Lelouch?"

"Better." Lelouch smirked. "How would you like to see Ohgi?"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Dallas laboratory…

"Nina!" Wallace declared as he entered the lab with Prince Schneizel and his aide, Kanon. "I've brought you some presents!"

"Ah, Mister Wallace!" she shouted, turning around from her computer and running over to them, collecting the steel briefcase Wallace had placed on the table. "When did you return from the EU?"

"Just now." Wallace replied. "We've managed to make peace with France."

"You could've just conquered it at that rate…" Nina sighed.

"If one wins too much, defeat awaits around the corner." Schneizel told her. "Humans exists for hope. Winning crushes that hope. It's the same for enemies or allies. Everyone desires something.  
"Which brings me to the purpose of my visit." Schneizel told Nina. "What would you say that Deoxys aims for?"

"Eh?" Nina asked. "To kill, what else?"

"Perhaps you haven't had time to read this report from Area Eleven?" Schneizel asked.

"I-I'm sorry, it's just that we're nearing a breakthrough in increasing Deoxys's half-life, it's just—"

"I understand." Schneizel told her with a disarming smile. "But apparently, Deoxys spoke with our knights."

"Eh!" Nina shouted, grabbing the report in question and skimming though is quickly. "This… this is…"

"An issue?" Kanon asked.

"No, not at all!" Nina shouted, rushing over to the tank of tentacles. "Deoxys can _learn_…" she gasped. "It can communicate…"

Schneizel smirked. This girl was always an interesting person to visit.

* * *

Red whistled as he walked through Olivine City towards his destination. He knew what Lelouch had been working on, having already recruited Brock, Volkner and Wattson to his cause, but Red wanted to give his brother a little surprise to sweeten the plan.

Which was why he was headed for the Gym, to speak to the Steel-Clad Defense Girl herself, Jasmine.

Walking into the cool, quiet gym, he scanned around for a sign of the young leader.

"Um… Who is it? A challenger?" came a voice, and Red turned to see Jasmine, a pretty girl not much older than himself, walking out from behind a sheet of metal which turned out to be her steelix, one of the first discovered. A gift, from his mother Marianne the Flash herself, Red remembered.

"Well, I'm ready to go if you are," Red replied with a flirtatious wink.

Jasmine missed the innuendo, blinking in surprise at her guest. "Oh! Lord Red! This is a surprise! Um… what can I do for you?"

"Well, I was wondering something, and thought you could help me out," Red replied vaguely. Jasmine nodded for him to continue. "You're one of the people contracted to develop armour plating for things like Prince Schniezel's Rayquaza and Cynthia's Bahamut aerial fortresses, aren't you?"

"Well, Cynthia mainly used Brittanian and Scottish contractors, but I was a consultant, yes." Jasmine nodded. "Why are you-?"

"I'll cut to the chase," Red said, clapping his hands together. "Friend of mine is working privately on something, a pet project. He needs an armouring specialist who can work large scale, and he wants the best. Who better, I said to him, than the Steel-Clad Defense Girl herself? You've trained under Marianne. I wouldn't be surprised if you could surpass her, if given the right challenge. What do you say, interested?"

"Y-yes, very!" said Jasmine, a bit overwhelmed. "But who is this friend of yours, and what is he looking to build?"

Red grinned. "That's the fun part. He's—"

His Geass flared.

* * *

Annabel was practicing her shooting using entei and latios as high-speed moving targets.

She was, of course, using blanks, not that her pokémon couldn't fend off actual bullets, but it still hurt them.

She almost fell over as a persian jumped up her, somehow catching her off guard. "You're Suzaku's…" she recognised, kneeling down and setting the gun aside.

"He seems to like you." Suzaku told her.

"Japanese clothing?" Annabel asked, taking in Suzaku's traditional robes.

"Yeah." Suzaku nodded. "I always wear this while training. For ease of movement."

"Same," agreed Annabel, indicating her tank top and sweats, though she had light elbow and shin guards strapped on too. "Still, I favour defense. You?" she asked, aiming the question at the person walking up to them.

"Comfort." A young woman with long black hair explained, gesturing to her own clothing.

"Lucy!" Suzaku asked, surprised to see the Knight of Seven. "What're you doing here?"

"SAZ." The Tube Queen replied dismissively.

"Lord Kururugi." The Glaston Knight Thomas said as he approached the three. "There you are."

"What is it?" Suzaku asked as Thomas handed him a document.

"We need you to sign the order for capital punishment on the Eleven that attacked you." He explained. "With the acknowledgement of someone of the rank of Rounds or higher, the order will be carried out.

* * *

"The deoxys are advancing rapidly, your highness." Nina explained to him. "We're using the generous funding you've given us, and the precious meteorites Britannia has gathered for us very wisely, and as you can see we are producing better and better results…"

Behind her, Kanon tapped curiously at a tank filled with several writhing deoxys as Wallace watched. The tentacles immediately latched onto the spot where he had tapped, shaking the glass. Wallace took a few precautious steps back, but Kanon merely stared, enthralled.

"Um…" Nina hesitated, momentarily distracted by the deoxys and her own nerves. "Back… during the Black Rebellion… deoxys died after a few minutes of life… but we're making his DNA more stable with each day…"

"You took action on Euphie's behalf." Schneizel told her as Wallace rejoined them. "Though she left her name in history in an unfortunate manner, I believe in her. Like Cornelia, Kanon, Wallace, Suzaku, Nunnally, and now, you. I trust you because of that. Which is why I can tell you that she has recovered from her long… episode."

"That's good…" Nina smiled. She had often visited the princess, and had eventually come to find her obsession with murdering the Elevens to be disturbing. Now that she had recovered though… "Where is she now?"

"She's hidden her identity and is acting as an aide to Nunnally as she tries to revive the SAZ of Japan, this time to carry it out without any bloodshed." Schneizel told her. "Suzaku is with her."

Nina clenched her fist and looked down at the floor. Wallace put an understanding arm around her.

* * *

"He's… what?" Jasmine frowned slightly. "Lord Red, are you alright?"

"Perfect…" said Red, turning to the side to scan the room. His Geass was buzzing in his mind, warning him not to say anything more. Someone was… watching. This was a bad idea, if he screwed up, Lelouch and Nunally would be…

"Uh, sorry, just a headache." Red lied, massaging his temples. "Really though, he seems psyched about it but I don't know the specifics. He'll call you himself, okay?"

Jasmine's confused frown deepened. "Um, okay. Is that really all you wanted to ask me?"

"Yup, just putting in a good word for my friend," Red replied jovially. "I said good things about you to him, I said good things about him to you, hopefully you two can get together and make good things happen between yourselves."

Jasmine blushed. '_Oh, sure, she spots the unintentional innuendo.' _Red scowled inwardly.

"Oh… okay. Thank you for this," she bowed.

"Pleasure's all mine," Red replied with an extravagant bow in return, quickly leaving the gym afterwards.

Jasmine smiled, intrigued by Red's offer, before heading back to her steelix.

She froze before she got there, as if she were possessed by some greater power. Taking out a pokénav, she dialed a number she shouldn't have known. The only woman who did had died eight years ago.

The call connected immediately. "Charles, I think our boys are up to something," Jasmine said, smiling to think of how much her sons had grown.

* * *

"Umm… Lord Kururugi?" Thomas repeated.

Lucy reached out into the marble gazebo and took the document from Suzaku's hand, scribbling her own name in the place of Suzaku's and handing it back to Thomas.

"Lucy's a Round too." Annabel pointed out.

"Yes, that won't be a problem then." Thomas nodded, taking the document with a salute. "Please excuse me." He added, turning to leave.

"Suzaku?" Annabel asked as the Glaston Knight left. "Are you… a masochist?"

"Huh?" he asked.

"You enlisted in Area Eleven knowing that you would be hated." Annabel explained. "You are the hero of the numbers. You are the man who betrayed Japan. You are Zero's enemy. This is the defendant's fortress. Jealousy and hatred will kill you."

"I don't care about wanting others to understand my actions." Suzaku told her with a smile. "I don't need that anymore. I… have someone who understands me. Besides…" he looked down at the ground. "I've been a sinner from the beginning."

"I can see why Tucker calls you grumpy," Annabel said, a note of humour hidden in her casual expression. Suzaku frowned at her.

"That's Suzaku." Lucy shrugged. "Also, Fairy."

"Hee~ooh!" Tucker shouted, shaking his shoulders with jazz hands as he danced up to the three Knights. "Zero's on the line!"

* * *

Suzaku, Lucy, Tucker, Annabel, Euphemia, Lloyd, and Cecil in a _very_ revealing dress gathered in the lounge.

"Oh, you look fabulous darling~!" Tucker gushed over Cecile.

"Dressing up?" asked Annabel.

"I-I was just trying on the dress for the ceremony when we got the call," she replied, blushing at the attention she was getting from the Knights.

"Careful." Lucy told Cecile, tapping the lab assistant's chest, causing an event that made Suzaku turn away with a blush, something neither Cecile nor Euphie was very happy about.

"I-I will be!" Cecile snapped, pushing her breast back inside the cloth. "Honestly…"

"Hm, it seems we're being connected." Lloyd announced, completely uncaring of the events going on beside him.

_\_ "_**Hm? Four Knights of the Round?**_" _\_ Zero asked once he was connected. _\_ "_**I certainly feel honoured, but no governor?**_" _\_

"This is a talk between officials." Suzaku told Zero.

"I've gotta ask." Lloyd pointed out. "Are you the same person behind that mask as the previous Zero?"

"_**Zero's worth shouldn't be measured by his identity, but by his works.**_"

"Ah, a philosopher I see." Lloyd smirked.

"Mind games." Lucy replied.

"Have your knights reached a decision?" Tucker asked. "Since you said that you'd participate in the SAZ…"

"_**We have gathered a movement of one million people.**_" Zero told them.

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "One Million?" Cecile asked.

"Careful." Lucy reminded her.

"Are you serious?" Suzaku asked.

"_**But I have a condition.**_" Zero stated. "_**I want you to overlook me. Now, I understand that letting me go will not be acceptable in the eyes of the public, so why don't you decree that Zero is to be exiled from Britannia?**_" he suggested.

"What about the Black Knights!" Suzaku shouted, standing up.

"He'll toss them aside like an old pair of rhinestone-jeans." Tucker shrugged. "In order to preserve his own hide."

"If they were to find out, you'd be lynched from within your own organisation." Lloyd announced, standing up beside the most valuable part of his Lancelot project.

"_**Which is why I'm speaking to you in private, so I don't get killed.**_" Zero told them.

"Boring." Lucy sighed.

"Article 12, item eight of the Area law extensions." Euphie quoted, having memorised all of these during her incarceration. "If we use that, then Nunnally- our governor would have the power to exile him."

Suzaku glared at her. "Did you plan for this?" he asked.

She stared at him in shock. "NO!" she shouted. "I'm just saying that it is, legally, a viable option! I'd never take part in something like this!"

Suzaku sighed. "You're right, I apologise."

"_**So how about it?**_" Zero asked. "_**You can announce it at the ceremony, for your sake…**_"

"It's not a bad deal at all~!" Tucker pointed out, swinging his arm around Suzaku's neck. "If the leader escapes, then all the Eleven terrorists will just evaporate into mid-air."

"But… a criminal…" Suzaku snarled.

* * *

Once the negotiations were over and the video link was cut, Lelouch took his mask off. "Haha…" he managed, giving a thumbs-up to cameraman Tamaki.

He gave a bigger grin and handshake up to Ohgi, who smiled and glanced at Toudou.

Even he smiled.

It was a brilliant plan.

Even if it all hinged on the hope that Britannia wanted to avoid another Euphinator incident at all costs.

* * *

"Hey, you all good?" Ash asked Lelouch, as he locked the door to the house that night.

"Yeah." Lelouch nodded, walking away. "I no longer have any attachments to this place."

"Hey!" Misty shouted, running up to them with a rucksack over her shoulders. "Sorry… I'm late…"

"Misty?" Lelouch asked.

She saluted with a grin. "Reporting for duty, Lord Zero." She told Lelouch.

He facepalmed. "Ashford…"

"Just so you know, it's not just Mist. Morty, Koga, Falkner, Erika and Flannery are all meeting us there with Winona." Ash told him. "Volkner, Brock and Wattson are already in position with Silver. You wanted Gym Leaders, so I got them."

"Between you, them and that friend of yours, Gold, we've got enough to start our own league and Elite Four…" Lelouch sighed. "Alright, have they got their cases?"

Misty pulled a thin, black case with the Silph logo on it. "Yep!" she grinned. "What's in 'em?"

Now was Lelouch's turn to smile. "You'll see." He told her, leading the way down the street. "Come on."

* * *

"The Elevens are complying, nobody had illegal pokémon, everything's running smoothly~!" Tucker sang as the crowds of people gathered onto the grassy hill for the opening ceremony. "The tide is strangely high, but the sun is really blazing. It's a won~derful day, but something's bothering me."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, curious, so Tucker explained. "After Zero betrays all the Elevens, won't there be a revolt?"

"Pretext." Lucy replied. "Then we purge."

Tucker laughed. "Cruel and efficient, just how you like it Lucy~!"

* * *

_\_ "To all Japanese, I welcome you to the Special Administration Zone of Japan." _\_ Nunnally's voice broadcast over the large monitors places around the field as the sun shined brightly. _\_ "I am extremely happy that so many of you have gathered here this day. Please, lend me your hand in creating a new page in history." _\_

_\_ "Before we begin, we shall announce the terms of which we negotiated with Zero." _\_ A stern woman declared, Euphie not daring show her face on camera. _\_ "First, all imperial citizen's pokémon are to be reduced by up to twenty levels by means of Doom Seeds. Second, all C-class criminals or below shall have a stay of execution. However, the pardoning of their leader's various offences, such as the murder of the former Governor Calares, cannot be allowed. Under article 12, item eight of the Area Law extensions, only Zero shall be exiled from this country." _\_

They waited a moment for the riot.

It didn't happen.

_\_ "_**Thank you, Britannia!**_" _\_ Zero declared from the screen. _\_ "_**I am deeply moved by your generous statement.**_" _\_

"Ah, you came!" Nunnally declared happily.

"SHOW YOURSELF ZERO!" Suzaku shouted. "I will personally escort you out of this country to safety!"

_\_ "_**I do not need your assistance.**_" _\_ Zero replied.**_**\_ "_**However, Suzaku Kururugi, I do need to ask you something. What are the Japanese?**_" _\_ he asked. _\_ "_**What makes a Nation? Is it land? Language? The bond of blood?**_" _\_

"NO!" Suzaku shouted. "IT'S OUR HEART! THE PEOPLE UNITED MAKE A NATION!"

_\_ "_**That is my answer too.**_" _\_ Zero nodded. _\_ "_**A Nation is a home, a place where people of the same heart can be together as one. Self-awareness, standards, pride, In other words, as long as one still possesses the heart that is at the root of their culture, then no matter where that person lives, they are still Japanese.**_" _\_

"That has nothing to do with the fact that you are running away on your own." Suzaku retorted smugly.

_\_ "_**You're wrong, Suzaku Kururugi.**_" _\_ Zero declared as smoke filled the fields. _\_ "_**It has **_**everything**_** to do with this. And please, don't try to quell a revolt that isn't going to happen.**_" _\_ Zero added as Lucy and Tucker reached for their pokéballs, the screen cutting out.

"All units, prepare for battle!" Tucker declared. "Do not attack unless they do first! THAT IS AN ORDER!"

The smoke cleared to show Zero in his traditional robes step from the smoke. "So, he was here all along…" Annabel commented, aiming her rifle.

"_Skarmory!_" Zero declared, tossing the ball into the air. "_DEFOG!_"

The fog cleared, showing a black sea of over one million Zeroes.

"HE HAD THIS UP HIS SLEEVE!" Tucker shouted. "EVEN I CAN'T CHANGE THAT FAST!"

_\_ "_**TO ALL ZEROES!**_" _\_ the armoured Zero on the screen declared, the static vanishing. _\_ "_**Abide by Governor Nunnally's orders! ACCEPT YOUR EXILE SWIFTLY! No matter where we are, WE WILL ALWAYS BE JAPANESE!**_" _\_

_\_ "_**Now...**_" _\_ Zero declared as the sunlight grew brighter. _\_ "_**ONWARDS! To the new haven!**_" _\_

"To all Zeroes!" Zero announced. "Let us make way to the new haven!"

"Let's all get exiled together!" Zero shouted. "Because we're all Zero!"

"That's right! We are Zero!" Zero announced to all the other Zeroes.

"Exile!"

"Let's go, my fellow Zero!"

"STAY CALM!" Tucker announced. "There is no way they could transport over one million people-"

"**GGRAAAHH!**"

Everyone turned to see the waves fall and a city rise out of the ocean- a clean, steel city built on bedrock. The buildings, some nearly ten stories high, were cascaded, each topped with solar panels and sparking greenhouse roof gardens with soil, grass, and all manners of fruit and vegetables. The city continued to rise, slowly making itself over to the assembling crowd of Zeros.

The purple bubble faded from it, and a Zero with his mask under a cap and a red cape on his back stepped forward, kicking down a bridge from the new island to the fields. "COME NONE, COME ZERO!" he shouted. "TO THE NEW, ZERO CITY!"

"BUILT UPON THE FINEST GROUDON ZERO COULD FIND!" Another Zero in a blue cape and silver armour declared beside him. The Zeros cheered and rushed towards the city.

"ZERO!" Villeta shouted, jumping into the crowd. "Remove your masks, now!"

"Damn!" Zero grunted, pulling out a gun. "Brit bitch-"

"STOP IT!" Zero ordered, pushing the gun down and stepping in front of Villetta. "We're not here to fight."

"Ohgi?" Villeta asked.

"Erm… no, I'm Zero." Zero replied.

* * *

"ZERO!" Suzaku shouted at the screen. "ORDER THEM TO REMOVE THEIR MASKS! A LOT OF PEOPLE WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T!"

_\_ "_**It's meaningless if you do not know our identity.**_" _\_ Zero told him. _\_ "_**Besides, this is a non-violent method, just like you wanted. This way, the Black Knights disappear, Area Eleven gains peace, and the new governor isn't involved in a massacre. It's a win-win situation for both sides, is it not?**_" _\_

"Your call." Lucy reminded Suzaku.

'_Dammit… I cannot forgive Zero… to let him go… is that to forgive..?'_

* * *

"_That was why I wanted to make the Special Administrative Zone in the first place." Euphie explained, pulling her knees into her chest as she sat up. "So we could be together, me, you, Nunnally, Lelouch…"_

_Suzaku put an arm around her silently as she began to cry. "It's okay." He told her, pulling her into a hug. "It's alright…"_

"_I… I just wanted… everyone to be happy…" Euphie sobbed. "I… didn't want anyone to die…"_

"_I know…" Suzaku told her, kissing the top of her head. "I know…"_

* * *

"That's right…" Suzaku realised. "Both Euphie and Nunnally forgave him…"

He slammed a fist into the stand, splintering the metal around his fist. "ZERO IS TO BE EXILED!" Suzaku ordered. "ALL OF THEM! BRITANNIA HAS NO USE FOR A NATION OF ZEROES! Promise me, Zero…" he snarled, looking at the large TV screen. "That you'll save them."

_\_ "_**Of course.**_" _\_ Zero nodded. _\_ "_**And promise me, Reaper, that you'll save the Japanese remaining in Area Eleven.**_" _\_

"I will." Suzaku glared, before turning back to the crowd. "What're you waiting for?" he asked, waving an arm. "GO! YOU'VE BEEN EXILED ALREADY!"

'_This strategy was devised under the knowledge that I wouldn't order the soldiers to attack.'_ Suzaku realised as the crowd began to move. '_Zero knows me very well.'_

* * *

"Sayonara, Britannian." Zero told Villetta in a soft tone as he began to migrate towards his new home.

Villetta watched him leave with loneliness in her eyes. "Ohgi…"

* * *

'_This strategy was devised because I know you are my arch rival.'_ Lelouch thought to himself on the way to his new office. _'And that you understand Nunnally and Euphie so well. And for that, I thank you.'_

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_**Varanus:**__ Hey Zero. You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?_

_ROAD TRIP! China or bust!_

Now, who wants to go live in Zero City? Because believe me, that place just gets a whole lot better._  
_

_**Varanus:** Sign me up. You know, the best thing about Zero City isn't the fact that it's built on the backs of behemoth and leviathan, it's that it's totally eco-friendly and self-sufficient. Because if there's one thing Lelouch cares about, it's the environment._

Way to spoil the big reveal Varanus... Ah well.

Now, I accidentally gave Lelouch's initial Geass in his right eye, back in the day, when in canon it's his left eye. I screwed up back then, but I'll run with it now.


	28. The Stolen Bride

Alright. We've had a lot of large chapters recently. Let's try to tone it down a bit.

By that I mean me. I often get lazy while writing, so I make up for it with quick update speeds, even with chapters consisting of two episodes.

That's not on.

So, this time, it's gonna be one episode, with lots of new content. Fair?

Now, Patch, Arisoto was cool.

Deviate Fish, that was meant to be a playful jab, not meant to be an actual shot at you. Sorry if offense was taken.  
And Lelouch will get plenty in due time. He's just a little preoccupied with plots and terrorism at the moment.

Karasu, all will be revealed.

Pogg, maybe I'll get around to it someday.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_The Chinese Union._

_A large collection of nations that boasts the largest population of all the world's superpowers._

_However, the majority of this population is made up of the elderly._

_The symbol of this nation, the child Empress Tianzi, is an unwilling puppet._

_The group of high level officials that use and control her power behind the scenes are oppressive and despotic, whereby poverty and stagnation sap away the vitality from the citizens. _

* * *

_The Black Knight who fled Japan on their new land, are headed towards this Chinese Union. The current holders of power, the Eunuch Generals, have granted Penglai Island, an artificial island used to generate tidal power in the Yellow Sea, in the bay of the Jiangsu Region, to the Japanese._

_While the Black Knights did not need this land, the political implications of this offer would only be fully realised afterwards._

* * *

Lelouch looked over his new city with pride. It hadn't been easy building it, but it was worth it.

The land was built around and using the groudon that Silver had captured, which also gave the effect of artificial sunlight. It was also built around the kyogre that was once used as the Abyss, which meant that not only could this island city move and have clean rain water, it could also go underwater.

That was where Red's mewtwo came in.

Suzaku's Lancelot is only a beta design for mewtwo, an attempt at mass production similar to what deoxys was now. But, while being exceptionally powerful, it wasn't the strongest pokémon in the world.

That title belonged firmly to Red's Vengeance.

The words in Professor Fuji's diary in the ruins of the Pokémon Mansion described it the best;

_"We dreamed of creating the world's strongest pokémon… and we succeeded."_

Vengeance was close to a physical god of destruction. Were it not for the sheer level of Red's confidence- borderline megalomania- at the time, the world would have been torn asunder by its strength.

However, because a ten year old boy truly believed himself to be unstoppable, he conquered a being capable of cracking the planet in two with one paw.

Now, this former demon turned its powers to construction. For one time only, it opened its mind to the people Lelouch had assembled, giving them a taste of what it was like to be the incarnation of power.

With the help of Brock, it built stone and steel walls. With the guidance of Wattson and Volkner, it laid down power lines and utilities. Winoa and Falkner showed it how to optimize the sunlight and wind loading on the buildings, while Koga, Misty and Flannery worked with it to perfect the city's layout, fluid dynamics and defense systems.

In three days, it was complete, and Vengeance retreated to the core to meditate. As the focus of its power, it used the Blue and Red orbs connected to the main generators of the city, bringing Zero City to life.

Groudon created the land.

Kyogre cultivated the land.

Vengeance built the city.

* * *

"**Your mewtwo even creates enough energy to power both the electricity **_**and**_** the force fields.**" Lelouch marvelled to Ash.

"We can take this bad boy underwater and we'll still have perfect weather inside the bubble." The younger brother bragged.

Lelouch sighed. "**C.C.'s in the room, and you just said that?**" he asked.

"I know you want to see it too." The witch told Lelouch.

Lelouch smirked, then he opened up a Com channel. "**Prepare for Dive.**"

* * *

It was truly breathtaking.

The entire city sank under the water, without a single drop of water entering the city walls.

The forcefield was so… subtle, it didn't even distort the light, like glass did.

"Ah, man…" Tamaki whistled, reaching out through it and grabbing a squirtle, pulling it inside the bubble. "Dude, this is awesome! Here Ohgi!" he added, handing it to his boss.

"Huh?" Ohgi asked, taking the wild turtle from Tamaki.

"I know how much Naoto's blastoise meant to ya." Tamaki smiled, handing him a net ball.

Ohgi's jaw dropped at this rare display of thoughtfulness, then accepted it gratefully, capturing the squirtle.

"If the shield can withhold this much outside pressure, and still allow objects from inside the sphere to pass through freely…" Toudou realised. "We can attack from within this city while the shields block all enemy attacks."

"How can you think of battle strategies at a time like this?" Chiba asked him with a smile.

Diethard looked around the underwater city, spinning around slowly with his arms spread wide. "Haha…" he managed, before laughing forcefully with sheer joy. "Only Zero could achieve something like this!" he shouted with delight. "He truly is a man capable of becoming a god!"

* * *

C.C. looked at the submarine city with a genuine smile on her face as she stroked Jiro.

"Come on." Lelouch told Ash, popping in his contact. "This city isn't going to organise itself."

* * *

"Hey, do you really plan on taking over the capital city of the Chinese Union?" Kallen asked Lelouch as she fiddled with the wires in the over-head cabinet.

"In a method that doesn't involve invading." Lelouch explained, taking care of the electronics in the floor panel. "If Luo Yong falls into our hands, then the conditions for defeating Britannia will almost be met."

Kallen looked down at him, then up with a smile. _'I guess he's alright now…'_ she thought to herself.

"Hey, do you have some wire cutters up there?" Lelouch asked, making Kallen trip and fall.

Onto him.

They lay there for a few moments, noses touching, brains trying to think of what to do next, with various other organs giving very clear instructions.

"Tell me, Lelouch." Kallen asked, pushing herself up to see him better. "Why did you come back?"

"Kallen, when this is all over, would you come back to Ashford Academy with me?" he asked her, dodging the question entirely.

"Tabasco Sauce."

Kallen and Lelouch leaned their heads back to see C.C. watching them while eating a pizza. "Since when we you there!" Lelouch demanded.

"Who cares?" C.C. asked. "Where's my Tabasco Sauce? All we've got is hot sauce in here."

Lelouch looked over to the left where there was a box of ketchup, a box of brown sauce, a box of barbecue sauce, a box of mayonnaise, a crate of Tabasco Sauce…

'_Ah.'_ Lelouch realised, noticing the subtle innuendo. '_Right.'_

_\_ "LORD ZERO!" _\_ Kaguya's voice shouted over the speaker. _\_ "Please come to the throne room right away!" _\_

"It's not a throne room dammit!" Lelouch sighed, sliding himself out from under Kallen and removing the contact lens covering his Geass. "**C.C., is my Zero case over there?**"

She wordlessly picked up an unmarked black ceramic briefcase for him. Lelouch grabbed it, then dropped it on the floor. It opened up into a mass of strengthened zirconium, and Lelouch stepped into it.

The ceramic armour then leapt up around his front and back, strapping around his torso and legs as the arm plating leapt around his arms, solidifying into the blood red gauntlets of Zero.

The back collar popped up around the back of Lelouch's head as the sleeveless cloak unfurled, and Lelouch placed the mask of Zero over his face, the back unfolding over his hair.

Lelouch's transformation into Lord Zero took exactly nine and a half seconds.

"You know, the ones you handed out to everybody only did it with cloth and wires." Kallen complained. "And we had to open the box ourselves."

"_**Yours was one-use only.**_" Zero told her. "_**It would take me a good hour to put this armour on manually.**_"

* * *

"_**A political marriage?**_" Zero asked Kaguya after she explained the situation to him.

"Yes." She confirmed. "The invitation to the marriage ceremony went to the Sumeragi Concern. The bride is Empress Tianzi, the symbol of the Chinese Union. She wanted to invite me as a friend."

"And the Groom is Britannia's first prince." Toudou growled.

"Some guy called Odysseus." Blue added. "Ick."

"So this means we won't have time to carry out the original plan." Silver growled.

"Think the Eunuch Generals planned this?" Ohgi asked.

"_**No, this is a move by Britannia.**_" Zero replied.

"Then… we're…"

"_**In a worst case scenario.**_" Zero told Ohgi. _'Damn, I wanted to control Tianzi before this happened. To think that mediocre prince would be used this early…'_

"What's everyone so worried about?" Tamaki asked. "We were exiled! Britannia doesn't concern us anymore. We're freakin' underwater for crying out loud!"

"It's not like they're letting us off." Misty said. "Besides, as a political marriage, there's a good chance that China will turn around and attack us."

"Who let you in newbie?" Rivalz asked.

"My bad." Red sighed. "But we've only got a week's supplies to feed the million people in here, and the farm's won't be able to feed us all for another month, and there's no way we can catch enough fish to support us until then."

"Wait, so what'll we do for food?" Kallen asked.

"We were going to trade with the Chinese Union, but if this marriage goes through, that isn't exactly gonna happen." Ohgi sighed.

"So we're just gonna starve?" Rivalz snapped.

"NoooOOOOOOOOoooOOOO!" Tamaki shouted. "Guys! This is a huge problem! We can't just stand around not doing anything!"

"Which is why we're talking about this now…" Ohgi sighed.

"Hey, this is a suspiciously well-played move." Silver whispered into Zero's ear.

"_**I know.**_" Zero nodded. "_**A chance to break the icy relations between Britannia and China and keep us under control in one fell swoop. Only one man could play such a devil-like move.**_"

'_Schneizel…'_ Lelouch glared from behind the mask.

* * *

That evening, at the party, Empress Tianzi sat terrified next to her husband-to-be.

"Did the Empress consent to this?" Suzaku asked Cecile.

"We can only assume so." She replied. "Besides, this is one path to peace."

"I suppose…" Euphie sighed, clutching her knight's arm.

"Aaah, there you are!" Lloyd declared, walking past them over towards Milly, who was made-up in a blue dress.

"Um… am I still your fiancée? Count Lloyd?" she asked him nervously.

"Hm?" he pondered, scratching his head in confusion. "I don't remember annulling it…"

"Wow, this is rare." A built, brown-haired man in a green suit smirked as he strode over to the two. "Lloyd taking an interest in a fellow human being."

"Ah, Brandon!" Lloyd declared. "This is my fiancée, Milly Ashford!" he introduced her.

"I am the Pyramid King Brandon, Knight of Four." The man stated, slapping Milly in the shoulder. "Thank you for putting up with this looney! I thought he'd have to build himself a wife one day!"

"Erm…" Milly asked, rather surprised at the prospect. She had to admit, however, that she could imagine Lloyd doing exactly that.

"Announcing the second prince of Britannia, Prime Minister Schneizel!"

The crowd turned and buzzed excitedly at the sight of the second prince, raising a hand in greeting as he was followed by a few guards and a bespeckled dark haired woman.

Curiously, his only aide that evening was Wallace, who seemed a little worse for wear despite the atmosphere at the party.

"Hey, that can't be…" Milly gasped, recognising the woman walking in with the prince. "Nina!"

"Excuse me." Brandon whispered to Lloyd and Milly as Schneizel gave a quiet command to Nina. "I need to go grovel now."

He knelt between Tube Queen Lucy, Knight of Seven, and White Reaper Suzaku, Knight of Five. "Your highness." Brandon told the prince. "His majesty has instructed us to be under your command here, Prince Schneizel."

"Three Rounds members." Schneizel nodded with a smile. "That is indeed dependable. However…"

"Yes, your highness?" Brandon asked, knowing the answer already.

"This is a celebration." Schneizel sighed. "I wish you would be more relaxed."

"Suzaku?" Nina asked the Knight of Five as they stood to their feet. "How is everyone at school doing?"

"Look over there." Suzaku gestured, nodding towards Milly.

"Hi~!" the blonde young woman waved.

"Ah, Milly!" Nina smiled.

* * *

"Representative of the Sumeragi Concern!" the party guard declared a few minutes later. "Kaguya Sumeragi has arrived!"

Everyone turned to see the old Japanese, princess, then promptly forgot about her at the sight of her '+1'

Zero.

Kallen and Rivalz had also come along to act as his guards. Rivalz, while refusing to lose his beard, admittedly looked more respectable in a jacket with both sleeves attached and his hair combed.

"Who invited this terrorist?" one man hissed quite loudly.

"Oh my." Schneizel smirked, holding a wine glass to his face.

'_Schneizel.'_ Lelouch thought. '_So you were behind this after all.'_

* * *

"You're almost done with your credits, aren't you?" Nina asked Milly on the balcony.

"Yeah, and after that…" Milly sighed, turning to her friend. "But, I'm glad. You seem to be working hard too, Nina. That's somewhat relieving."

"A relief?" Nina asked, looking at the stars.

Milly nodded. "You know, if you ever need to talk, you know that I'm there for you, right?"

"Stop it." Nina told her friend. "I like you, Milly, but I don't like women who are just about appearances." Her eyes lowered, "Princess Euphemia didn't run away. She saved me with her life. Only Princess Euphemia saved me…"

"But, I—"

"I DON'T NEED A WORD OF YOUR SYMPATHY!" Nina shouted. "Milly, you're always just playing around, using Ashford Academy as a shield when you're in trouble! Your relationship with Lloyd is the same, isn't it?" she turned to the blonde in anger. "You're always looking down on me, drunk on hypocrisy with your damned guardian-like face! I'm no longer the person I once was! ACKNOWLEDGE ME ALREADY!"

* * *

Guards surrounded the Black Knights with spears and milotic. "Kaguya!" Tianzi shouted, standing up, only to be forced down by a Eunuch General's forceful grip.

"The tribute arrived on its own accord~." He told her with a grin.

"Is Kaguya going to Britannia too?" Tianzi asked.

"Just forget about her already~." She was ordered by another Eunuch. "She's a girl destined for the death penalty."

"That's wrong!" Tianzi shouted. "This isn't Britannia!"

"The Black Knights killed Gao Hai~." The second Eunuch reminded her. "Zero slew him with his own hands~."

"Let us deal with these affairs~." The first told her, leaning closer to her face. "Isn't that how we've done things all this time~?"

"Stop this quarrel already." Schneizel ordered, stepping forward. "Tonight is a celebration, is it not? I believe this is why Zero has come in dress clothes, not his new battle armour?"

"But—~!" a Eunuch protested while Zero nodded.

"Miss Sumeragi." Schneizel continued, interrupting the Eunuch. "At the ceremony tomorrow, I would like to ask you please refrain from bringing Zero along with you."

"That… can't be helped, I guess." Kaguya conceded.

"If Britannia's Prime Minister says so~…" the front most Eunuch sighed, waving an arm sharply. "Back off~!"

'_Schneizel.'_ Lelouch thought smugly as the Prime Minister approached him. _'So you come before me yourself—'_ Suzaku ran between the two, glaring at Zero's mask. _'Of course, he would take such a precaution.'_

"Kururugi, do you remember me?" Kaguya asked the knight, twirling in front of Zero. "Your cousin?"

"Of course." Suzaku replied flatly.

"We are now the only ones left of the Six Houses of Kyoto." Kaguya told him.

"Kirihara and the others were supporters of terrorism." Suzaku explained. "The death penalty couldn't be avoided."

"Have you forgotten the fact that Lord Zero once saved you in the past?" Kaguya asked him. "Do you plan on bringing the death penalty on the one who saved you?"

"The two things are different." Suzaku growled after his initial shock at the question. "Sparing me while killing so many others only serves to highlight his crimes."

"Such a pity~!" Kaguya sang, clapping her hands together. "If only words can kill a person."

"_**Prince Schneizel.**_" Zero requested. "_**I have heard about your skills. Would you give me the honour of a friendly battle between us?**_"

"Oh?" the prince asked, his interest taken hold. "Would you like to place a wager on this battle?

"_**Very well.**_" Zero replied calmly as Lelouch smirked. "_**Upon my victory, I would like you to give me Lord Kururugi. He would make a fine gift for Lady Kaguya.**_" He added in response to everyone's gasps of confusion.

"My, that would be the best present!" Kaguya shouted gleefully.

'_Once Suzaku is gone, I can use my Geass on everyone in this room.'_ Lelouch smirked to himself. _'I don't even need to cast eternal obedience, just for them to acknowledge me as the Emperor of China.'_

"You sound very confident that things will go in your favour." Schneizel replied with a smirk. "So you won't object to an equally steep prize upon my victory, either?"

"_**Then, if you shall win, I shall give you this mask I am wearing.**_" Zero told him, predicting the prince's request. _'Either way, I win.'_

Schneizel chuckled. "This might turn out to be an interesting bonus. Wallace, Lucy?" he asked, calling the two people over. "Start a bookie's on Zero's true identity. I place ten thousand pounds on him being one of Grandmaster Red's illegitimate son's."

"Sir, that would make him… ten years old at the most!" Wallace protested.

"Three to one." Lucy decided, already jotting down a spreadsheet. "Red is a man whore."

Brandon laughed. "I'm not arguing with your odds!" he declared. "What do I get for Vampire?"

"Seventeen to one." Lucy decided. "Vampires aren't real."

* * *

A crowd had gathered in one of the ceremonial arenas, eager to see this face off between the masked revolutionary and the Prime Minister of Brittania.

"This battle shall go by the Battle Tower Rules." Brandon, the acting judge, announced. "Each trainer may use up to three pokémon that must be chosen beforehand. Set battle, pokémon may be switched freely, no items the pokémon don't bring in with them. I would prefer for us to battle using my Pyramid rules, but we simply do not have a convenient one nearby."

'_Gengar, charizard and lucario.'_ Lelouch decided, placing the three balls on the table as Schneizel placed a luxury ball, timer ball, and friend ball on the table.

"Both of you, choose your pokémon." Brandon commanded. Zero grabbed gengar's dusk ball and Schneizel chose the luxury ball. "And… THROW!"

"_**GENGAR!**_" Zero declared, tossing his ball into the arena as Schneizel casually sent out a lapras. "_**Focus Blast.**_"

"Ice beam." Schneizel ordered, almost casually as his ferry pokémon was launched across the room, making a crater in the wall. "Oh…"

"_**Finish it.**_" Lelouch smirked. "_**Thunderbolt, then Nightshade.**_"

The water and ice pokémon fell without resistance to the much faster sweeper. "My, this isn't good." Schneizel commented, recalling his lapras and selecting the timer ball. "Aegis." He said, sending out a blue shuckle.

"_**Nightshade.**_" Lelouch ordered, and the room was filled with darkness as red clouds distorted the space around shuckle, causing serious damage while ignoring its defences entirely.

"Power Swap, then Rest." Schneizel ordered with a smirk.

The blue gas around gengar faded, and it looked around itself in confusion as its power left it entirely, replaced with a weakness of the sleeping shuckle. "_**Impossible!**_" Zero shouted. "_**Shuckle can't learn Power Swap!**_"

"Wobbuffet can't learn Punishment either." Schneizel told Zero with a disarming smile.

Lelouch scowled, enraged at not foreseeing that strategy, while being impossible for himself, as a possibility for his opponent. "_**NIGHTMARE!**_" Zero commanded, just as shuckle woke up. _'Of course, its ability lets it store all the berries it wants inside that shell and consume them unconsciously._' Lelouch realised, recognising that he was quickly approaching 'screwed.'

"Trick Room." Schneizel ordered, and his Aegis performed another affront against the limits of movesets. "Now, Curse." Aegis shuddered, it's body glowing as i's body hardened to boost its attack and defensive abilities, while at the same time restricting its movements.

"_**Use Curse as well!**_" Zero ordered, and his gengar created a large, silver nail made from smoke and drove it into his own stomach, placing a curse upon Aegis.

The curse faded almost instantly. _'Lum Berries…'_ Lelouch realised. "_**Nightshade!**_" he commanded.

"Gyro ball." Schneizel commanded, and the gengar was smacked down by an orb of silver energy that materialised before its face at high speed before the ghost had charged a Nightshade. "Now, Giga Drain."

The grass attack finished the ghost, and Zero recalled the pokémon, looking over his other two choices. "_**Charizard! Flamethrower!**_"

The shuckle shrugged the attack off, spreading spikes around the arena as the dragon unleashed a blast of fire from its mouth. "_**Seismic toss!**_" Zero shouted while the arena burned, squirtle squad rushing around the room as the dragon swooped down and picked the shuckle, carrying it into the air and throwing it into the wall as a squirtle's hydro-pump hit it.

"That's rather dirty." Schneizel chuckled. "But good strategy."

Aegis the shuckle landed on the ground, spinning, then began eating berries from within its shell.

'_I can't use Roost because of the toxic spikes…'_ Lelouch thought angrily, then deciding to go all out "_**Substitute, then BELLY DRUM!**_"

The charizard split into two, then roared, smacking its own stomach wildly as the clone hovered there limply.

Then the Blaze kicked in.

The flame on charizard's tail grew to half the size of the dragon itself, and the flamethrower coming from its mouth burnt through the metal flooring under the stone tiles of the arena.

Except for the area underneath the shuckle.

"Ancient Power." Schneizel sneered, and rocks surrounded Aegis, launching them with a wave of power at the Fire and Flying type with all the Special Attack force of a very powerful gengar.

The substitute took the attack as charizard rushed forward in a Flare Blitz, filling the arena with flames.

The charizard was thrown out of the column of flame it had created, the fire dissipating to reveal the shuckle charging another gyro ball.

"_**OVERHEAT!**_" Zero shouted, and the charizard unleashed the last of its flames in a final attack as the energy ball hit.

Aegis was still standing.

Zero didn't even recall his injured dragon; he threw the ultra ball holding his lucario into the arena. "_**BONE RUSH!**_" he shouted, recalling his fainted charizard as the aura pokémon rammed its fists into the shuckle over and over and over again, pummelling it repeatedly until its shell cracked and gave way.

"My, not bad." Schneizel complimented, recalling his shuckle. "The Toxic Spikes I laid down turned out to be useless after all."

"_**Let us finish this duel, Schneizel.**_" Zero taunted, the once finely furnished arena reduced to a smouldering chamber.

"Yes, let's." Schneizel smiled, picking up the last ball, the friend ball. "This particular pokémon I only got today." He explained. "It's the first of its kind that is suitable for training."

'_It can't be…' _Lelouch cottoned on faster than he liked. "_**You can't be SERIOUS!**_"

"Don't underestimate a prince of Britannia." Schneizel smirked, tossing the ball into the air and releasing the monster within. "Deoxys!"

* * *

"WHAT!" Suzaku shouted, watching the abomination on the screen. "We need to stop this battle NOW!"

"NO!" Nina shouted, running towards the screen happily. "Let Deoxys fight…" she laughed. "Let Zero know _FEAR!_"

"THAT THING WILL KILL US ALL!" Rivalz shouted over the muttering crowd. "They're heartless killing machines that only want to kill or torture you in any and EVERY WAY IT CAN THINK OFF!"

"_That's hardly fair, guv."_ A young boys voice protested, a mass of tentacles slithering onto Nina's shoulder. "_The deoxys love their mother so much guv. They'd never hurt her, guv."_

"No…" Kallen gasped, covering her mouth in realisation at what was on her old school friend's shoulder.

"You sick twisted bitch…" Rivalz gasped, striding towards Nina. "You KNOW how that thing talks and YOU STILL CARRY IT AROUND WITH YOU!" he shouted, pointing a murderous finger through the gap between the three guards holding him back.

"_She's their mother guv."_ The little boy's voice told the disgusted Rivalz as he was forced away. "_It's not like she'll ever leave them guv.__ She'll be with them forever, guv."_

* * *

Lucario ducked, swerved, using Detect at regular intervals to spot where the attacks would land as Deoxys stabbed with its four tentacles.

This was a new shape: humanoid, with thick, human-like legs, but four tendrils for arms, two from each shoulder. Its head had three shark-like fins, one on the top and one on each side. Clearly, this new form was designed to be the ultimate form of attack.

But anything overly focused on attack would be vulnerable to counterattack. As the Deoxys reared forward for another attack, Zero barked an order. "_**Counter, and follow up with Dark Pulse!**_"

Lucario managed to sidestep the attack getting in close to the monster and pounded it with a double palm strike, sending it reeling back into the fires that were still burning around the arena. Without delay, lucario roared and punched again, letting out a wave of darkness from its palms into the fire.

The pulse hit nothing. Deoxys had teleported to the side. Its tentacles shot forward, lashing out as it bore down on lucario.

Zero bit back a curse, ordering his lucario to evade. He had underestimated this new one. Unlike the previous deoxys', it was nimble, faster, more intelligent…

CRUNCH

"SQUUUUAAAAAARRRTT!"

And strong enough to stab through both sides of a squirtle's shell without noticing.

"_**HEY!**_" Zero shouted. "_**TIME OUT!**_"

"Stop." Schneizel ordered his Deoxys as Zero ran to the injured pokémon, pulling out a Full Restore.

"_**We need medical assistance in here!**_" Zero shouted, spraying the wound of the squirtle squad member to try and stop the bleeding. A couple of guards rushed up and recalled the injured pokémon, carrying the ball somewhere safe.

Zero then turned to Schneizel. "_**What the hell do you think you're playing at!**_" he shouted, pushing the prince in the chest, sending him stumbling back. "_**DON'T INTERFERE!**_" Zero snarled at the approaching guard. "_**This man brought a dangerous pokémon into a friendly battle and as a result a non-combatant might DIE!**_"

"Non combatant~?" the Eunuch who just entered the room chuckled. "What insolence~. It's merely a pokémon~!"

"No, he is right." Schneizel replied, recalling his deoxys. "My pokémon was out of control and it was entirely my fault. I shall take full responsibility for this matter." He turned to Zero. "Let us call this match a draw." He said. "But let me warn you: This was only one of the three _stable_ deoxys that I have brought with me." He explained. "If you do show your mask at the wedding tomorrow, then we will finish this battle."

"_**Very well.**_" Zero nodded, swooshing his cape as he left.

"ZERO FORFEITED THE MATCH!" Brandon declared. "SCHNEIZEL IS THE WINNER!"

"_**Eh?**_" Lelouch asked, turning around.

"You ended the match early!" Brandon laughed. "Doesn't matter the reason, that means that you lost by default!"

"It's alright." Schneizel told Zero with a defusing smile. "You threw the battle out of the compassion of your heart. To give me the spoils of victory now would only—"

He looked down at the folded mask that just landed in his hands.

"**A good trainer looks underneath what is underneath.**" Zero replied from under his leather cowl and cloth face mask. "**Underneath a mask one may find another mask.**"

* * *

"Ah, man!" one noble groaned.

"What a cop out!"

"How disappointing…" Odysseus groaned.

"YES!" Lloyd shouted, jumping into the air with joy. "ZERO'S A NINJA! I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!"

Lucy consulted her black note book, and remembered that Lloyd had, in fact, bet seventy grand on Zero having a second mask underneath the helmet, and had been offered thirty-to-one odds. "Damn." She whispered, opening her bankbook.

She'd barely make a ten grand profit after paying the count.

* * *

One advantage to losing his mask, however, was that Zero was free to comment on the buffet. He quickly discovered a liking for Chinese food.

After the party, however, it was time for the Sumeragi Concern representatives to return to Zero City.

"So, you're going to the wedding anyways?" Red asked Lelouch that night.

Lelouch smirked. "I'll be going as an escort in standard Black Knights uniform, but I intend to become Zero during the ceremony." He put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "That's where you come in."

* * *

Schneizel strode to the laboratory section of the Rayquaza, friend ball in hand. Wallace, spotting the ball, blanched. "Your Highness, I'll… just be checking up on Nina. She had a stressful night."

Schneizel smiled and nodded, letting Wallace bid his hasty retreat, before tossing the ball before him, sending out the Deoxys within.

"You got a bit carried away, didn't you?" he said pleasantly.

The Deoxys lowered itself into a bow. _"Forgive me, Deoxys forgot itself, your Highness."_

Schneizel laughed. "Well, I can hardly blame you for getting caught up in the moment. I was the same."

"_Deoxys will controls its urges better, your highness. It does not wish to fail you or mother again, your highness."_ the Deoxys promised.

"Now, now, don't be like that," Schniezel said amicably. "You've been very helpful as it is, Kanon."

"_Yes, your highness."_

* * *

"Dearly beloved." The archbishop of Canterbury told the congregation at the wedding the next morning. "We are gathered here this day, to witness…"

"You really think this'll all go to plan?" Silver asked Lelouch as they stood behind Kaguya on the balcony, both of them looking down at the priest's ceremony below with disgust.

"I trust Red." Lelouch said. "He loves theatrics more than I do."

* * *

"Hey, Xingke!" Red waved as the soldier ran towards the church, his loyal soldiers following behind him.

"You…" Xingke growled, drawing his sword. "You intend to stop me?"

"I intend to make sure you do this right." Red explained. "Most men dream of being able to crash the wedding, to steal the woman he loves from the altar, carrying her in his arms into the sunset. Few men even get to do it in their lifetime. Now, I don't care that she's underage, or that you respect her too much to see her like that or whatever. The fact is that you can either burst in there, save her, OR, you can do it right, and everyone will be too busy marveling at how brilliant you were to even consider stopping you."

"You're insane." Xingke told him.

"I know." Red smirked. "But I've been in a fair few crashed weddings, and it's always much, much more impressive if done right."

Xingke was intrigued. "What are you proposing?"

* * *

Lelouch hit the button on the remote on his hand.

"…Speak now or forever hold your peace."

**BAM**

"I question…" a powerful voice growled as he marched into the chapel. "To the voice of the skies… to the cries of the earth… to the hearts of the people… Where! In This Marriage! Is The Will Of CHINA!" Xingke roared.

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND~!"

"SILENCE ZING HAO!" Xingke barked, drawing his blade and letting loose his zangoose and seviper as guards rushed at him on milotic with spears. "I, representing the will of the people, OBJECT!"

His allies rushed in behind him to tackle the guards before they had a chance attack. Somebody screamed, and pandemonium broke out.

"Let us leave, Lady Kaguya." Silver told her with a smile as the guests began to flee from the church. "This what you had in mind?" he asked Zero, watching the one soldier take on twelve circling guards, moving through them in unison with his seviper and zangoose like a gust of holy wind.

Lelouch stepped into the shadows of the alcove, removing his contact lenses. "**Perfectly.**" He said, drawing his case and awaiting the opportune moment.

"DISLOYAL FOOL~!" one Eunuch shouted. "TRYING TO MAKE THE EMPRESS YOUR BELONGING!"

Xingke stopped dead. _'Am I, too, simply using the Empress…?'_

That was Zero's cue to get ready.

"XINGKE!"

Everyone still in the chapel except Lelouch turned to the child empress, holding her little finger in the air while crying Xingke's name.

He grinned. "Then… there's no more Hesitation In My HEART!" he shouted, filled with new determination to take her from this.

"XINGKE!" she repeated holding her arms out as he ran…

And the armoured warrior Zero landed behind her, driving the stone beneath his feet down into two small craters, before rising up and putting his hand on her shoulders. "_**I thank you, Xingke.**_" Zero told him. "_**Thanks to your help, I was able to move with the utmost ease.**_"

"E-even that man is…~" a Eunuch babbled in fear, moving away.

"Zero." Xingke stated, taking a calm step towards his empress. "What is the meaning of this?"

"_**I am crashing your wedding crashing, as it were.**_" Zero announced.

"I thought the Black Knights owed me a favour for what I did for them back in Area Eleven!" Xingke snarled.

"_**We do.**_" Zero replied. "_**That's why we are destroying this marriage. However, I will be taking the bride.**_"

"Xingke!" Tianzi shouted.

"Your highness!" Xingke shouted, before calming himself. "You… demon…" he growled.

"_**Oh, really?**_" Zero asked, before laughing. "_**I've been called a traitor, a murderer, a terrorist, a fiend, a liar and a thief, yet never before have I been called a demon.**_"

He laughed harder, as if possessed by darkrai itself. "_**THEN PERHAPS SOME FLAMES ARE IN ORDER!**_" he shouted, and he and the princess were consumed by black flames.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Yeah. I'm glad I crashed the wedding. It's better than regretting. I could've been a loser kid, and ran away and hid, or I could get away with this awful Busted joke because of making epic.

Who liked my Iron Man shout out? Good, now tell me if that film was any good so I can decide whether to watch it or not.

So, next chapter, we'll have the first epic pokémon war of this story. This is something I really, really need to get some skills in for the epic wars in For Every Soul. Is that a spoiler? I really don't think so.

Now, some of you may have noticed that I've replaced many of the over-powered mechs in the series with legendary pokémon. Everybody, guess what pokémon I will be using for Shen Hu. I bet none of you will get it right.

Also, I freaking love making Deoxys as scary as I can. It's just so much fun!

_**Varanus:** No, seriously, you guys won't be able to guess what the Shen Hu parallel is. Or will you? _


	29. Rising Apes

100 REVIEWS! WHOOO!

And now for an epic battle. Hooray!

BUt first, Poggg, Kanon volunteered. Kanon is also a homosexual in the canon. We assume as has a thing for Schneizel.

Karasu, In this chapter, you learn _why_ I don't do that. And for Shen Hu's replacement, you are wrong with all your guesses.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_Among the three superpowers that control this world, two of them, the Holy Empire of Britannia and the Chinese Union, intended to merge through a marriage of convenience. _

_Facing the greatest threat to the United States of Japan, Zero took action, abducting the symbol of the Chinese Union, the child empress, Tianzi._

_However… will dreams blaze the trail of fate? Shall willpower over come all?_

_Although it is said that the ephemeral flower always dances in the wind…_

* * *

The pillar of flames was brilliant, impressive, and terrifying, a grand column that came from the ho-oh above, incinerating anything in its path.

Except, of course, for the cyclone that rose from under the ground to protect Zero and the Empress.

The ground under their feet fell as a circle around them was cut into and through the stone, separating the circular metre they were standing on from the rest of the stone floor.

Alakazam slowed their descent before they crashed into Lugia's mouth, and they hopped onto the bird's belly next to Princess Kaguya and Silver as he directed lugia to fly through the church's wine cellar, letting the pillar of Sacred Fire breach the underground chamber.

"We'll be out of the Forbidden City soon, Tianzi." Kaguya told the bride as the three of them moved to lugia's back and Zero gave Kallen the order to stop the flames and retreat, and then ordered lugia to use dig for their escape.

Brittania had never seen it coming, seeing as how a swift beast of the sky like lugia shouldn't be able to use Dig.

That was never a problem for Zero, however. Lugia was smart. Zero just instructed it to be… creative.

* * *

"Is… this the outside world?" Tianzi asked once she had calmed down, looking at the tunnel being forged around them by lugia's drill-like winds.

"Most of it is prettier than this…" Kaguya laughed. "I'm sorry we had to grant your wish in such a violent manner…"

"You remember?" Tianzi asked her in surprise.

"_**Tianzi, it will take some time to reach Zero City.**_" Zero interrupted. "_**May I discuss a matter with you while we travel?**_"

"Huh?" Tianzi asked, turning to Kaguya for confirmation, who nodded. "Um… okay..?"

"_**Our country, the United States of Japan, is just one part of a much greater union of states in my conception.**_" Zero told the empress. "_**The United States Alliance. For this to succeed, I need your assistance.**_"

"We've already spoken with India about this." Kaguya added. "Burma and Mongolia will take action as well."

"_**The United States Alliance will become a new axis of power to conquer Britannia.**_" Zero explained.

"But, my country is a federal system already—"

"_**Every system has a life expectancy.**_" Zero interrupted her. "_**For their own safety, the Eunuch Generals intended to whore you to Britannia. That is not something that you should have to forgive.**_"

"Um… I'm not sure about such complex talk…" Tianzi mumbled.

"Empress Tianzi?" Kaguya asked her as Zero shifted over to sit closer to the front with Silver.

"Um… yes?" the young empress replied.

"Li Xingke. Is he a man that you have exchanged vows for the future with?" the young princess asked.

"Eh? Ah, no… he's just someone I made a promise with, long ago…" Tianzi replied.

"As a fiancée?" Kaguya pressed on.

"Ah, that… I wanted to go outside, six years ago…"

"That long ago?" Kaguya gasped, getting excited. "He must be your destined one!"

"Y-you think so?"

"Yeah!" Kaguya nodded. "It's so romantic!"

"Twisted, I call it." Silver muttered under his breath. "We're getting close to the ocean." Silver announced more clearly. "There'll be a split second as we switch from using Dig to Dive. You won't have to hold your breath but you Will. Get. Wet."

Silver turned to face the front and smirked. _'I always wanted to say that. Shame it had to be to a couple of kids and a dude...'_

* * *

Kallen gracefully descended from her ho-oh and landed by the docks in Zero city. "Where's Zero?" she asked Blue.

"Silver just called ahead, said he'll arrive in a minute, but he wants towels."

"Eh?" Kallen asked. "I thought that if lugia dug through the stone and reached the ocean, water would start to pour into the tunnel, so lugia could use dive without any of its riders getting wet?"

"Silver acts cool all the time, but he's surprisingly playful." Blue winked. "If you know what I mean."

Kallen grimaced. "I thought you two were siblings?"

"What? NO!" Blue shouted, covering her ears and groaning. "Aaah, brain bleach now!"

"Sorry, it's just…" Kallen stumbled.

"They go way back." Morty explained, dumping a sports bag onto the concrete and handing the two girls and umbrella each. "Here." He said, unfurling his own and holding it above his head.

"Uh, why?" Kallen asked as Blue did as she was told. "Kyogre's not scheduled to rain to-"

"LUUUUUUGH!" the beast sang as it burst from the water, water cascading from its wings and body as it glided over the docks beautifully.

Kallen got soaked to the skin.

"Towel?" Morty offered.

* * *

"Do you really think its okay to let Kaguya carry out the negotiations?" C.C. asked Lelouch in his office as he wiped the condensation from the inside of his mask.

"**She's apparently not the type who will be convinced through logic.**" He sighed.

"Not your type?" C.C. teased.

"**It's hard to analyse her.**" Lelouch admitted, pulling his hand out and peering inside the helmet. "**I'd complain about this helmet not being waterproof, but that would also require it being airtight.**"

"That would be problematic." C.C. shrugged.

"Hey, Lulu!" Rivalz shouted, bursting into the room. "Chinese army have reached the coastline!"

"**Ah, forget it!**" Lelouch snapped, tossing the cloudy helmet across the room and picking up the case for the Zero armour. "**I'll grab a spare along the way.**"

* * *

"SOLARBEAM!"

Orange energy burst through the rock face of the floating island, creating a large tunnel which sealed itself as the blast crossed the ocean and obliterated the massive quaqsire carrying the Chinese mobile base.

The metal structure above it fell to the ground, sinking diagonally into the earth.

Zero arrived just in time to see Flannery give him a large thumbs up. "The Groudon attack system is running great Lord Zero!" she declared. "Next time they attack, Misty's having a go with Kyogre."

"Wow…" Tamaki gaped. "DID YOU SEE THAT! DID! YOU! FREAKING! SEE! THAT!"

"Reduced a carrier pokémon to ash in a single attack…" Rivalz managed. "Sorry Kallen, but ho-oh's got _nothing_ on groudon."

"Heh, we'll see," said Kallen with a confident smirk, though her eyes were still glued to the screen showing the mobile base topple into the earth.

"_**May I remind you that we are currently now at war with both Britannia and the Chinese Union.**_" Zero told everyone. "_**The S.S. Rayquaza is coming to provide back-up, so everyone, BATTLE STATIONS!**_"

"Hey, can't we relax?" Tamaki asked, rubbing the force field. "They can't get us inside this baby."

"_**Special attacks can't get us Tamaki.**_" Zero corrected. "_**Cannon fire and physical strength means nothing, and if they get to use Brick Break on the wall, we're wide open and can't even submerge until we restore it.**_"

"…Ah." Rivalz realised. "How long would that take?"

"_**Too long, so we're not risking it. YOU ALL KNOW YOUR PART OF THE PLAN!**_" Zero declared. "_**TO YOUR POSITIONS!**_"

* * *

"Are you sure we can trust him~?" Zao Hai asked Gai Lou as they walked through the prisons.

"He's stupid enough to do anything for that girl~." Lou replied. "Besides, he's the only one who can control that monster~."

Hai sighed as they rounded the corner and opened the trap door leading to the prison cell below. "Xingke~!" Lou called. "We're compassionate enough to allow you a chance to redeem your sins against China and the Empress~!"

"They got away with her, then used an extremely powerful solarbeam to incinerate the quagsire below us, and now you want me to take Sun Wu Kong to retrieve her." Xingke chuckled. "You truly are spineless cowards…"

"SILENCE INFIDEL~!" Hai screeched. "GET HIM OUT OF THERE AND BEAT SOME RESPECT INTO THIS INSUBORDINATE TRAITOR~!"

Three guards helped the tied-up Xingke out of his cell, then were beaten down in quick succession.

"If you want me to help you, it's better to make haste than have me beaten first." Xingke told the Eunuch's, using the knife he'd just stolen to cut the ropes tying his arms behind his back. "Now." He stated, dropping the blade into the seam of the metal tiles. "Where is that insane pokémon?"

* * *

"How is Prince Odysseus?" Lloyd asked Schneizel atop the S.S. Rayquaza.

"He's resting now." The Second Prince replied.

"My floatation armour is on its way from the Britannian embassy." Suzaku explained. "Once it gets here, I'll go and retrieve the Empress."

"No!" Brandon shouted. "Any further action on our part will require the request of the Chinese Union."

"I understand, but…"

"No." Lucy interrupted Suzaku. "You are young… impudent."

"Impudent!" Suzaku shouted.

"It's good that you value life, but not all life is yours to save." Lucy titled her head back to look at the White Reaper. "Remember that."

* * *

"_**Things are moving more smoothly than planned.**_" Zero told C.C. as they walked through a floating city preparing for battle. "_**It's all thanks to Xingke and his allies. That man is very talented.**_"

"So, how did you know they were planning a coup?" she asked, stroking Jiro as Lelouch opened the door to the tower containing his office.

"_**Because I was planning the same thing.**_" He explained, not noticing Kallen looking at them with something akin to jealousy. "_**I was initially going to have Kallen and Toudou attack the church as I took Tianzi into a van and we escaped by road, but someone had already set trainers along the routes I had planned for an ambush.**_"

"I see… so from the rebel soldiers there…" C.C. commented as the lift door opened and they stepped inside. "Did you use a truth serum or something?"

Lelouch took off his mask and grinned through his double Geass. "**I call it Geass.**" He smirked. She smiled slyly in response.

* * *

"_**What's our status?**_" Zero asked as he entered the command centre.

"We're getting reinforcements delivered." Ohgi reported. "Should be here within the next thirty minutes."

"_**Plenty of time.**_" Zero nodded with a smile.

"We're under attack!" Kris reported from the computer screen. "It's taken out all the Surfing units in between us and the coastline!"

"ALL UNITS, HALT AND MOVE BACK!" Ohgi shouted.

'_Strange…'_ Lelouch thought. _'Any enemy forces of that level shouldn't be ready for at least another hour… was someone able to read my move..?'_

"We've got a visual!" Dawn shouted, bringing it up on the screen.

There was only one pokémon attacking them.

* * *

It was a slaking. Only, it wasn't.

Slaking's don't have white fur.

Their thick arms don't curve around, as if they don't have bones.

They don't have two large, thick black claws protruding from their knuckles.

They don't have a red mane running down their head and back, like a Mohawk.

They certainly don't run on water.

Rakshad sat up. "No way…"

"_**What is that?**_" Zero demanded to know. "_**Is that a slaking or a vigoroth?**_"

* * *

"Vigorking, Sun Wu Kong…" Xingke marvelled as he rode the pokémon's back as it sprinted across the waves. "It's not even using Surf… those Eunuch's have created a monster…"

* * *

"My team and I researched partial evolution amongst other things back in India." Rakshad explained as everyone watched the monitor in shock as the pokémon obliterated any and every trainer in its path. "We abandoned it because there wasn't any tactical advantage in pokémon who stopped just before reaching their final stage, but this…"

"_**This can't simply be a slaking without the Truant ability.**_" Zero stated.

"A well-trained slaking has stats equal to the likes of kyogre, groudon, regigigas, just falling short of the likes of lugia, ho-oh, rayquaza and second generation mewtwo, like the Lancelot." Red explained with frustration. "Completely outstripping dragonite, tyranitar, even the legendary dogs can't compare in sheer all-round brilliance. The only reason it's not the most powerful pokémon available for mass-use is because of its sheer laziness, even without its ability."

"Instead, this one traded slaking's ability and attitude for vigoroth's aggression and Vital Spirit ability." Rakshad finished, her eyebrows knotting together in worry.

_\_ "Can you hear me, Zero?" _\_ Xingke shouted over an open channel. _\_ "I will not let you pass! Return the Empress now! I will spare you your life if you do." _\_

"_**ALL UNITS!**_" Zero shouted into the microphone connected to the city's announcement speakers. "_**GET TO THE FRONT LINE AND LAUNCH EVERY RANGED ATTACK YOU'VE GOT! DO **_**NOT**_** LET THAT THING REACH THE ISLAND!**_"

"You think it has Brick Break?" Ohgi asked.

"_**I **_**know**_** it has Brick Break; it's what I would have done.**_" Zero growled.

_\_ "XINGKE!" _\_ Kallen shouted from atop her ho-oh, flying out into the ocean and filling it black fire.

"_**KALLEN! FALL BACK!**_" Lelouch ordered as he watched helplessly as the white sloth leapt into the air and launched a stream of rocks into the fire and flying type, the double elemental advantage quadrupling the attack's strength. The rocks shot right through the black flames and crashed into the phoenix' wings, no doubt breaking them and sending ho-oh flying back helplessly into the city. "_**DAMMIT! Why is that in enemy hands!**_"

"It suggests that India isn't completely unified in our cause." Red explained as the ho-oh glowed with fire as it used Recover in mid-air. Despite the dire situation, Lelouch smirked, knowing Kallen had managed to calm it down as the phoenix righted itself and launched another wave of black flames, forcing Xingke to start playing evasive.

"Maharaja, that old geezer…" Rakshad sighed. "Though it was a completely wild and untameable pokémon. No-on could control it."

"Someone's clearly controlling it now!" Ohgi shouted.

"Apparently." Red sighed. "Now, we can easily take it down using Vengeance, but that would leave us with no electrical power and no force fields for the entirety of the fight."

"Why not use lugia then?" Kris asked. "Surely if ho-oh and that thing joined forces—"

"_**Vigorking is too fast.**_" Zero told them, deducing the most logical name for their new opponent. "_**Even Vengeance would have its work cut out trying to hit it.**_"

Vigorking was then forced back into the ocean by a wave of homing stars from ho-oh's wings. _'Swift… I forgot about that…'_

Red's Geass flared. "**Get ho-oh back here and spread everyone out in the streets, NOW!**"

Lelouch glanced at his brother, recognising the Geass. "_**Do it.**_" Zero declared, just as ho-oh was hit by another blast of rocks, fainting it.

* * *

Kallen recalled her ho-oh and sent out her kingler, landing on it as it hit the water. "After it!" she ordered, watching helplessly as Xingke's vigoroth charged at Zero city.

* * *

"_**All units, fall back from the coast line.**_" Zero ordered. "_**Prepare to drop the barrier in three.**_"

"EH?" everyone in the room shouted. "You're insane!"

"_**Two.**_" Zero continued.

"G-got it!" Dawn shouted in panic as she began to relay the orders to Vengeance.

"_**One… now.**_"

Vigorking's arm sailed through the non-existent barricade, rolling onto the docks. "_**RESTORE IT!**_"

Since they dropped the barricade willingly, it was able to be restored within seconds. While this didn't trap Xingke and his Vigorking, it stopped him from trying to break the barricade.

Or it was supposed to.

"_**Dammit!**_" Zero shouted as the protective bubble turned yellow, cracked and fell into intangible shards. "_**GET IT BACK ONLINE!**_" he ordered. "_**Red, get down there. I'll co-ordinate a guerrilla attack on our invader.**_"

"Gotcha." Red nodded, leaping straight out of the window onto his charizard.

* * *

"Come on…" Xingke growled, readying his sword and grapple spear as he rode on the beast's back. "Where is their army hiding…"

Vigorking began to jump wildly as attacks rushed around from all sides, their sources hidden behind the concrete and steel of the city. "I see…" the warrior growled as vigorking launched a focus blast to knock his enemies back. "Cowards…"

CLINK

He looked down to see a heavy ball bounce off vigorking's foot and shoot twelve feet straight into the air, before opening up to release a falling snorlax right above their heads.

Vigorking's arm shot up to catch it as Xingke's spike burst through its skull, killing it before vigorking hurled it into a building. "DON'T PLAY GAMES WITH ME ZERO!" he shouted, swinging his sword around as Rivalz burst from a window, arm ready to nuke a face.

The blade hit the titanium arm, and Rivalz caught it, launching heavy radiation into it as he twisted to boot Xingke in the face.

Xingke dropped his sword and caught Rivalz's ankle as he fell. "Where is she?" he demanded.

Rivalz smirked, despite being dangled helplessly by the ankle by an enemy. "Behind you." He grinned as the Gurren rushed down the street with a hammer arm attack aimed for Xingke.

Xingke dropped Rivalz and blocked as vigorking leapt back and spewed fire from its belly at them. Rivalz rolled to his feet and spread his metal palm out to block the flames with his nuclear hand, protecting both him, Kallen and the Gurren as registeel charged the vigorking from behind with a Superpower.

Vigorking jumped over the pokémon to dodge the attack, landing at a crossroads to spew fire as Rivalz's regirock and Asahina's regice charged it from both sides with the same move. Xingke dodged back again and the pokémon took heavy damage, creating an explosion that hid registeel as it Locked Onto the Vigorking and launched a Zap Cannon, which ignored the Vigorking's dodging movements until it was close enough to turn at a right angle and hit its shoulder.

Vigorking fell to one knee, paralysed, as Chiba's suicune tore in and launched a hydro pump at it, knocking Xingke from its back and smashing the pokémon to the ground.

Toudou's regigigas then leapt from a rooftop and slammed the vigorking deeper into the ground, creating a wide crater and trappings its body under Zangetsu's massive grip as Red jumped from his charizard, stamping on Xingke's throat. "**Yield.**" He ordered, Geass blazing the warrior into submission.

* * *

"Shields are back online!" Dawn announced excitedly. "Just in time too, the Chinese army are attacking!"

Zero collapsed into a chair and sighed. "_**Recall the vigorking, chain the ball up, and dump it into a safe.**__" _he ordered._** "Red is to place the prisoner with the empress.**_ _**All those who did not take part in that battle are to return into their positions while regirock, regice, registeel, ho-oh and suicune are taken to the pokémon centre immediately.**_"

"Lord Zero." Diethard asked. "Wouldn't it be advisable for Red to return to the front lines and have a less capable trainer escort the prisoner?"

"_**Xingke's capture required the combined efforts of several trainers, including Kallen, Gold, Rivalz, Asahina, Chiba and Toudou, with one casualty.**_" Zero replied. "_**I'm not taking any chances with him.**_"

"Then… why not have him executed?" Diethard asked.

"_**Have you forgotten that we are allies of justice?**_" Zero snapped while Lelouch thought of the hundred and one ways he could use a geassed Xingke. "_**We do not KILL prisoners of war.**_"

"Gold, Rivalz and Asahina have healed the regi's." May reported. "Toudou's warming up Zangetsu, and ho-oh's ready for battle."

"_**Alright then.**_" Zero nodded. "_**Silver, take entei and lead our men on the starboard wall. Red, once Xingke is secure, take raikou and lead the portside defences. Toudou, get to the front of the city and lead the attack on the invading army.**_" He ordered.

"_**We'll show them the difference between strategy and power.**_"

* * *

"We're still on standby." Suzaku told Milly as she sat in the lounge of the S.S. Rayquaza.

"I see…" she replied, glancing at Lucy who was typing into her S-book computer.

"We're still getting confirmation about your contact with Ashford though." Suzaku sighed, sitting down next to the council president.

"I see, well, nothing we can do about that." Milly replied cheerfully. "I bet Shirley's stressing out about having to do all the work herself."

"Lelouch did pick an unfortunate time to go travelling with Ashford." Suzaku replied, keeping up the lie that was 'Lelouch is not Zero'.

* * *

"_**The Chinese Army has much more soldiers and pokémon than we do, but we have better trainers and stronger pokémon!**_" Zero announced. "_**We also have the advantage of the terrain, and without Sun Wu Kong to break through, or Xingke leading their armies, China has no choice but to use Blitzkrieg tactics until they either break our barrier or we fail to hold the line!**_"

"_**However, if the situation looks too bleak for them, they will ask Britannia for assistance, and then this battle will be a much more difficult one! Therefore, you should let the weaker soldiers past the first defence so the second line can capture them. This will trick those Eunuch's into believing that they have a hope of victory for much longer, delaying their request to Britannia for assistance. This way, we fight two battles, one after the other instead of a double battle without a partner!**_"

Lelouch smirked behind the mask. As long as the Chinese Eunuchs tried to impress Britannia until they made the mistake Lelouch would force them to make, his victory was assured.

'_Li Xingke.'_ He thought to himself. _'__I only won here because those Eunuchs are fools.__Had you not come to me so we could take you down first, perhaps you might have lead your men to put me in check. You have resolve of Red, strategic intelligence on par to mine, and heroism on par with Suzaku. Truly, the lake spirits have blessed you thrice.'_

Unfortunately, celebi has cursed Xingke.

For all the gifts that uxie, mespirit and azelf had bestowed upon the warrior, he had not the time to use them.

* * *

"Alright Xingke boy, here you go." Red chuckled as he dumped the warrior in the secured apartment with Empress Tianzi and Lady Kaguya.

"Xingke!" Tianzi shouted, running up to him and untying him as Red closed the door.

"Empress!" the warrior shouted. "Are you alright!"

"Never mind, you're hurt!" Tianzi protested, but the warrior wouldn't let her touch his wounds.

"I'm fine." He insisted, coughing up blood unrelated to the beating he'd just received, and turning to lady Kaguya. "So… you're his prisoner too…"

"No!" Kaguya shouted as Tianzi rammed her face into Xingke's chest, crying. "I'm spending time with my friend while my husband fights the bad men who were going to hurt her!"

Xingke looked at them in confusion as he tried to comprehend this thought.

* * *

"Here they come." Toudou growled, looking over the ocean at the approaching soldiers, then looking at the men and women on either side of them.

He was part of a line that included his loyal companions, Chiba and Asahina. Both Urabe and Senba had fallen in battle, and Rivalz and this boy Gold had taken their places in the Heavenly Blades.

"Remember the plan." He reminded everyone, before raising his voice to a war cry. "GIVE THEM NOTHING!" he roared, exactly as Zero had ordered him to. "BUT FROM THEM! TAKE! _EVERYTHING!_"

The trainers to each side roared in determination, and Toudou was concerned that they may forget the strategy and lose themselves in the battle, something that would cost them dearly.

He need not have worried, however.

Everyone by his side knew exactly what their part was.

* * *

Silver looked along his line of men and women. Blue, Kallen, Morty, Flannery all of them he could rely on.

Tamaki was there too.

"COME ON THEN!" he shouted, watching the few soldiers try to Surf round the island to attack from the sides. "COME HAVE SOME IF YOU THINK YOU'RE 'ARD ENOUGH!"

Silver sighed. _'Why do I have to make the big war speech?'_

"FOR FREEDOM!" Silver roared as his entei, Kerberos, stood on its hind legs to lift him higher. "FOR JUSTICE! _FOR ZERO!_"

A huge plume of lava burst from the stone beneath him into the ocean, which burnt seven soldiers before cooling into stone.

"ZERO!"

* * *

Red stood on the edge of the island. Winona, Erika, Misty, Koga…

This could be fun.

He sent out his pokémon. "Let them know that one does not simply walk into Zero City." He declared menacingly. "Let them pay with the blood and bodies of their brethren, like we paid Britannia with the lives of _our_ brethren."

"Because one does not simply walk into Zero City." He concluded, activating his Geass. "**One climbs over piles of bodies to get there.**"

* * *

Zao Hai chuckled over his monitor. "Prepare men to attack from the behind~!" he shouted. "We'll have them completely surrounded~!"

"There's a storm rushing around the city my lord!" one of the men shouted. "We cannot go around, but they can't escape either!"

"Hm~." Gai Lao muttered. "Well, that'll be fine then~. Have them attack~."

* * *

Chang sat on his sharpedo nervously, rifle on his back and spear in his hands as he awaited his general's order to attack.

"CHARGE!" his leader shouted, and the soldiers behind him pressed their pokémon forward through the waves towards Zero City.

Chang gulped, then kicked his sharpedo to send him through the water. He saw those ahead of him get ripped to pieces by gunfire, burnt by flames, launched into the water by energy blasts, or caught in the all-devouring orange beam that blasted from the island edge.

He clenched his teeth as he reached land, leaping off his pokémon and charging with his spear, ready to be killed like his fellow soldiers.

He shut his eyes tight as the fear took hold, ready to meet his end.

It didn't come.

He got through the wall of pokémon and trainers that had killed every single other man in his team so far.

He almost laughed in relief.

But Chang was crushed under registeel's foot as it stepped back.

* * *

Lung and the few members of his squad that managed to break through the line raced as quickly as they could from the Black Knight soldiers who were even now wiping out any reinforcements that might try to support him.

Fourtune had favored them, however, as the six men raced down a narrow street, a weak point in Zero City's design, no doubt.

After all, there was only one man defending it, and he didn't even seem all together as he grinned lopsidedly at Lung and the rest of the furiously roaring Chinese soldiers.

"Boo," the lone man said.

Suddenly Lung's fellow soldiers collapsed, gagging in horror as they clawed at their own thoughts. Lung looked at them fearfully, then back at the man, who had disappeared, only his voice remaining. "You okay, pal?" the voice said, echoing around him, "You don't look so good…"

Lung looked down at his hands to see horrible welts and burns begin to spread across his skin, and his scream was cut short by his own hands wrapping themselves around his own throat, crushing his windpipe.

Morty looked down at the soldiers convulsing in fear as his gengar and haunter roamed over their unconscious bodies, devouring their last traces of life.

"Nightmare…" Morty muttered. "Pretty scary…"

* * *

Yes, any soldier who tried to approach Zero City from its shore met certain death, but the Chinese Union were not so easily fooled into believing it was impregnable.

That was why Huang and the rest of his Dive division had plunged beneath the waves on their quagmire, their seaking and their quilfish, in order to sneak behind enemy lines and under the storm to ambush Zero City.

Dive warfare is not favoured by the Chinese Union, due to the communication limitations underwater. Haung could hear orders given to him by his superiors thanks to his radio headset, but he couldn't directly communicate with any of the men he was leading.

Which was why it was such a shock when he glanced over his shoulders to see them all dead.

Volkner rushed down on Huang, the lanturn he was riding sparking with the remnants of the thunderbolt it had pumped into the Chinese soldiers before they could even register they were under attack.

Volkner's lanturn gave Huang a taste of the attack, but his trusty quagmire twisted around, absorbing the blow without harm. Huang grinned, smirking at Volkner, but the man just smirked back.

A shadow fell over Huang and he turned, fearful. A mighty serpent descended down, water rushing into its gills as it's maw filled with light and steam. The gyarados' trainer, Misty, gave an order Huang couldn't hear, and the serpent spewed flames onto the soldier and his quagmire.

Fire shouldn't burn underwater. People could argue that it wasn't fire, that it was actually gyarados' dragon rage.

But Huang burned all the same.

* * *

Shirley put down the phone after Milly had called her. "Thank goodness…" she sighed, collapsing into a chair before standing up again. "Right, the P/A system!" she shouted, running over the microphone unit by Milly's desk and pushing the switch. "Fellow students! Breaking News!" she declared. "President Milly's safety in the Chinese Union has been confirmed!"

She heard the cheers and took a breath. "The Knight of Five, Suzaku was able to escape from the scene of the coup d'état safely! She's sorry that there won't be souvenirs, but she wants to announce that we're going to be hosting an Oriental theme party when she gets back! There'll be Chinese food, cheongsams and Kung Fu acrobats for everybody!"

She cut the mic as she heard the faraway cheers around the school, then sighed. "Honestly… where's Lulu when you need him?"

* * *

He was in the command room, leading an army.

Britannia were still on standby, as predicted, and those Eunuch fools just kept sending more and more men to be cut down, simply because every one hundred and eight minutes, Zero ordered the Black Knights to allow the Chinese army to penetrate another layer of their defences.

Why one hundred and eight?

It's a difficult unit to count in. Had he ordered his men to let them further in every hour and a half or two hours, then the interval would be figured out almost instantly.

So five hours and twenty minutes later, one in every forty Chinese soldier made it past the third line of defence-

Only to be cut down by those at the back.

* * *

Schneizel put down the phone. "The Bahamut is on its way." He told those in the command room of the S.S. Rayquaza. "They won't be long."

"Are you sure we'll need their assistance?" Nina asked. "It's been five and a half hours already and the Chinese are winning."

"Nina…" Schneizel chuckled. "You are brilliant in a lab, but your intelligence does not carry over to the battlefield."

"Eh?" she asked as Lloyd brought up four clips of the battle radar onto the screen.

"The Black Knights have been intentionally letting Chinese soldiers break further into their city every hour and three-quarters, give or take five minutes." Lloyd explained. "As Britannians, we are not allowed to take part in this battle unless someone asks for our assistance."

"But, if the Chinese think that they're winning…" Nina gasped in realisation.

"It's a brilliant deception by a strategic genius." Wallace nodded. "Of course, it all falls apart once we send this information to the Chinese Union."

A flicker of annoyance flashed across Schneizel otherwise tranquil face.

'_So why is he letting us?'_ Schneizel pondered. _'All he's achieving is wasting Chinese Soldiers and tiring his own men…'_

* * *

Lelouch smirked behind the mask. _'This is going almost far too well.'_ He thought. _'I might even get to use my initial plan.'_

"_**Open up a secure channel to the Chinese Embassy.**_" He ordered.

"Understood." Diethard reported, typing buttons.

"LORD ZERO!" Dawn shouted. "The S.S. Rayquaza is moving to attack!"

"_**What?**_" he asked, turning to the main monitor as the green serpent began to fly towards them. "_**So they figured it out…**_" Zero nodded. "_**PURGE THE CITY!**_" He ordered over the Black Knights transmission. "_**PREPARE FOR DIVE!**_"

* * *

"Finally." Silver grunted, twisting around and stabbing into the back of a Chinese solider. "KILL EM ALL!"

Every single Black Knight on the island quadrupled in efficiency instantly, and within seconds they were sinking under the waves, with only one living enemy soldier left on the island.

Although, Zero did not expect Xingke to remain an enemy for long.

* * *

"Wh-what is that~?" Gai Lao squealed. "T-they really were playing with us all along~!"

Zao Hai snarled. "Get more men~!" he shouted. "Go after them~!"

"S-sir!" one soldier saluted. "We've only get twenty-four marine units left!"

"WHAT~!" Gai Lao shouted. "HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE~!"

"S-sir." The soldier bowed. "We've been fighting for five and a half hours… and every solder we sent out was killed…"

Hai's snarl grew angrier. "This is that damned Xingke's fault…~" he growled. "That damned fool RUINED this army~!"

* * *

Xingke stood up as the room shook. "What's happening!" he shouted.

"It's fine." Kaguya told him. "We're just diving. The city can go underwater you know."

"Eh?" Tianzi gasped. "Don't you get wet?"

"The shield keeps all the water out." Kaguya replied with a giggle. "It's so pretty…"

The door opened. "_Xingke._" Zero said, walking into the room.

"Bastard…" the soldier growled. "You want me to fight using her highness as a hostage!"

"_Empress Tianzi is free to leave whenever she will._" Zero explained. "_For her own safety, however, I would advise against it._"

"The water, right?" Xingke nodded. "Silver."

"Eh?" Kaguya asked as Silver removed his mask with a smirk. "But, where's Zero?"

"Right now?" Silver asked, an innocent look on his face.

* * *

A white spear burst from the ocean, spiralling into the sky before spreading its wings and roaring.

Lugia stood before the S.S. Rayquaza in all its majesty, and Zero stepped onto the beast's neck. "_**SCHNEIZEL!**_" he shouted. "_**So you too joined this battle.**_"

The only response was of Rayquaza roaring, ready to launch a hyper beam. "_**Very well.**_" Zero declared, sliding down the bird's neck and charging.

Lugia swooped cleanly around the hyperbeam, spinning through the mass of missiles launched from the steel structure around the serpent.

Within seconds, lugia was right in front of rayquaza and held its arm out as it continued to fly. It crashed into the fortress and, holding it in place with a wave of a well applied Psychic attack, began pushing the green dragon out of its metal structure with Strength.

The rayquaza screamed as the sheer forces twisted the restraints and the steel bound to its body broke, fragments splintering into the air as the beast forced the dragon backwards. With a screech and a shove of psychic power, lugia clamped down on rayquaza with it's jaw and ripped it bodily from the aerial base, the dragon shrieking in pain and shock all the while.

The S.S. Rayquaza, without its pokémon, began to fall, when the stabilising wings began to glow with gold energy, and its descent slowed. _'So they developed Lancelot's flight armour for a Sky Ship.'_ Lelouch thought. _'Doesn't seem to do more than act as a parachute, so that's fine. All within my calculations.'_

"ZERO!"

The armoured man turned to see the Knights of the Round, Lucy, Suzaku and Brandon, soaring towards him on an articuno, zapdos and a moltres respectively. "_**Three knights for me?**_" Zero asked as Lucy hopped from her bird onto rayquaza, clearly more comfortable on its serpentine back. "_**I'm honoured.**_"

"He's not the real Zero." Suzaku explained. "There's no way that he would risk his own life while the rest of his men get away."

"_**If a trainer doesn't lead the battle, how can he expect his pokémon to follow?**_" Zero asked. "_**I'm sure that your fellow Knights can appreciate that, even if you do not, White Reaper Suzaku Kururugi.**_"

Suzaku snarled, gripping his Master Ball.

Behind the mask, Lelouch smirked, checking the time.

'_Twenty-four minutes left…'_ he thought to himself.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Twenty four minutes left until what? UNTIL WHAT!

Ah well. You'll find out tomorrow.

Wait, this is a Friday's episode… whoops?

Also, just a reminder, starting next week I'm switching to a M/W/F format, so no chapters on Tuesday and Thursday.


	30. Falling Angels

Alright, weekend over, let's get some writing DONE! Also, reminder, this week is the start of the M/W/F format, so no chapter tomorrow.

Karasu, all I said was that you'd never guess. And this is what happens when you send your best military mind on your best weapon on a kamikaze mission.

Greifen, in a world where pokémon learn self-destruct and explosion, grenades were often a silly idea, used only by terrorists who can't afford voltorb farms like Britannia can. Also, a reminder, automatic weapons were never considered, which is why all guns are manual, semi-auto at best.  
The squirtle was pretty damned shocked at getting captured, so it didn't think to fight back.  
We try our best to pick up on these mistake- you would not _believe_ the amount of mistake we DO pick up on before the chapter goes live.  
And if there's anything Deoxys has taught me, it's that pokémon exist to be screwed around with.

Poggg, to be fair, it was an accident with Kanon. He just said that he didn't mind and volunteered to be Schneizel's pet.

WWDW, Cheers. Now you'll find out what happens when Three Frontier Brains gang up on Lelouch.

Patch, that's a good title, to add to my already impressive title of God-Emperor of Megami Tensei. Now THAT'S a title I Earned.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Red looked at the clock in the command room, his Geass blazing. "**Twenty-four minutes left…**" he muttered.

"Will that be enough?" C.C. asked him. "Everyone has been fighting a good five hours, I don't think half an hours rest will be enough."

"**It'll have to do.**" Red sighed. "**We've no human casualties, no injuries that can't be fixed with a needle and thread, and all pokémon can be healed in the pokémon centre. Let everyone eat, drink, change their trousers…**" he sighed. "**I know Sparta won continuous battles against larger armies in quick succession, several battles a day, but the Black Knights aren't born and bred soldiers like Toudou, Silver and I.**"

"You'll have to pull your share then." C.C. sighed. "Are you sure that I shouldn't be on the front lines during the next battle?"

"**No, it's a good plan to keep you masked and in the back.**" Red smirked. "**Someone with your skills as an ordinary soldier will do wonders for morale.**"

C.C. chuckled, then looked at the clock with a sigh. "Twenty-three minutes…"

She squeezed her Jirachi tight, hoping that Red's Geass was strong enough to keep her Lelouch alive.

* * *

Lugia swerved under the moltres' flamethrower, launching an ancientpower from underneath as Lancelot launched a dark pulse at the beast.

Zero turned his head back and tossed a pokéball at the attack, and lucario punched through the dark pulse like it was nothing.

Mewtwo dodged lucario's attack and Zero recalled his pokémon as lugia ascended in the sky, rayquaza encircling it in a spiral with its mouth pointed down the centre.

There was nowhere to run.

Rayquaza was helpless as Zero rammed a glalie down its throat, then leaping off his lugia and recalling it as the ice pokémon cast sheer cold down the rayquaza's insides as he fell.

The pokémon's scales cracked and stiffened, and rayquaza began to fall to the earth. Lucy jumped from it as articuno flew back to her aid. "What's he planning?" she pondered, seeing Zero fall to the earth like a bullet.

Then his cape burst open, red energy burning down from it.

"_**Did you honestly think that you were the only ones with flight armour?**_" Zero asked menacingly as he swerved, flying back to the three knights before standing, as if on solid air. "_**Such arrogance…**_"

Suzaku glanced down as the rayquaza landed in a heap onto the ground below, frozen solid and knocked out, but not quite dead yet.

They'd be able to save it.

"_**I warned you about arrogance.**_" Zero said into his ear. "_**Suzaku Kururugi.**_"

Suzaku looked back up as a switch in his brain clicked and forced him to pull zapdos back. _'How is his armour so fast without a pokémon providing energy!'_

'_Lugia.'_ Lelouch thought. _'Even recalled, you are so loyal to me… I have yet to name you, haven't I?'_ he realised.

He threw the masterball out. "_**RYUJIN!**_" he shouted, naming his lugia for the first time. "_**Ancientpower them ALL!**_"

* * *

"Here."

Silver turned to see Blue hand him a bottle of water. "Thanks." He nodded, taking it from her and forcing the liquid down his throat. "How're you holding up?"

"I'm fine." Blue sighed, lying. "It's like the Mask of Ice all over again, isn't it?"

"Don't say that." Silver told her. "Don't ever say that. Zero isn't like that."

"You are aware that he's only using us to achieve his own ends, right?" Blue asked.

"This time, at least, I'm happy being used." Silver replied. "I'm actually achieving something for once."

"Yo!" an annoyingly familiar voice called. "Long time no see Silver!"

He cringed, then turned around to glare at Gold. "You…" he snarled.

"Hey, don't get all snappy when we're on the same side!" Gold laughed. "Hey, I was even invited to join the Heavenly Blades with Regitaro!"

"Regitaro?" Blue asked in confusion.

Silver face palmed. "You didn't…" he growled.

"Hey, you alright?" Gold asked him.

"Bakutaro, Politaro, those I can accept." Silver managed. "But you just _don't_ name a legendary pokémon 'Reggie-boy'!"

Blue bit her knuckles to stop herself from giggling. "What's wrong with that?" Gold asked, tilting his head. "You named your entei Kirby."

"Kerberos. Is not. Kirby." Silver snarled, rising to his feet, trying to ignore Blue laughing her head off at the whole situation.

* * *

_\_ "Suzaku~!" _\_ Lloyd sang into Suzaku's earpiece. _\_ "Your armour and weapons will be here in five minutes~! Bahamut sent an advance team with it, since the reinforcements will be here in ten minutes, so get down here quickly!" _\_

Suzaku launched the blue fireball he was charging. "Understood." He nodded, beginning his descent to the fallen S.S. Rayquaza.

'_That means that his armour is almost here.'_ Lelouch realised as Lugia span through moltres' fire spin and into articuno's blizzard. _'Just fifteen minutes left.'_ He thought. _'If I promised half an hour's rest, nowhere near enough, and I will be damned if Zero can't provide at least that.'_

"_**Ryujin, hydropump!**_" Zero ordered, directing his lugia's attack at Brandon's moltres as Lucy circled him with her articuno.

'_Wait, this is too easy, even with Ash's Geass.'_ Lelouch realised as moltres dodged and launched an easily dodgeable flamethrower. _'They aren't trying to kill me, they're just stalling me.' _

'_So who is coming?'_ Lelouch thought. _'And how long until they get here?'_

* * *

"Twelve Minutes left…" Toudou growled, his fingers drumming a tattoo into the grip of his katana.

"We need that time to rest." Ohgi explained. "And to get to our new location."

"I know that!" Toudou snapped, before sighing. "I apologise."

"We're all under a lot of stress." Ohgi smiled worryingly. "Though, I think she's taking it the worst."

Toudou followed his gaze to see that green-haired woman with the jirachi that Zero was always with. "Hmph." Toudou grunted.

* * *

"RRAAAYY!"

Lelouch glanced below him to see a team of soldiers systematically thaw rayquaza. _'Damn, already?'_ he thought angrily as Suzaku rose out from the landed an the pokémonless S.S. Rayquaza. _'Oh, this just gets better and better.'_

"_**Ryujin, use protect.**_" Zero ordered.

A blue forcefield surrounded the bird as it curled up, deflecting the synchronised attacks that targeted the bird and Zero from all angles. _'Seven more minutes…'_ Lelouch thought angrily. _'Zero has to deliver seven more minutes or they'll consider Zero a false messiah…'_

Ryujin flicked its wings out, shattering the barrier and blasting a powerful wave of psychic energy at the three Knights of the Round. _'I can't have that.'_ He thought angrily.

* * *

"Shouldn't we go help him?" Kallen asked, walking up to Rivalz as he watched the silent broadcast of Zero's battle, being recorded from a camera hidden in his mask.

"Zero promised thirty minutes." Rivalz explained. "The fact is that, even though we're all ready to fight with him, he promised us half an hour to rest. Accepting anything less than that would suggest that we, as the leaders, don't have faith in Zero's abilities."

"I suppose…" Kallen sighed, sitting next to him. "Hey… you ever wonder what life'd be like without Zero?"

"Not really." Rivalz shrugged. "Though, I have wondered what my life would've been like if I didn't join the army and lose my arm."

Kallen looked down. "I'm sorry you got involved in all this…"

"What for?" Rivalz asked. "Look, say there are alternate universes, right?" he asked. "Then there's a universe where Rivalz didn't get his arm crushed, didn't get automail, didn't join the Black Knights, didn't spend a year on the run, and is probably back at Ashford Academy running around with Shirley trying to figure out 'What Would Lulu Do', and why he wasn't helping us while Zero was attacking China." He looked back at the screen. "Not a day goes by where I don't thank Arceus that I am not him." He told her. "That guy never got to be with you."

Rivalz turned with a smile to look at Kallen, who was staring at the screen in horror. "What the hell is that?"

* * *

'_Dammit.'_ Lelouch thought angrily. _'Out of all the scenario's I planned for, this is the one that happens?'_

The Bahamut.

It wasn't owned by Britannia, because it was built by private funds by the Knight of Three- the Dark Angel Cynthia. It had four segments built across its tail, each one separate from the other to allow the pokémon carrying them mobility, with telepads for movement between them.

Designed as a military research ship, was seen as a harbinger of doom considering Cynthia's prerogative to always operate with the latest military developments.

Brittania often worked with Cynthia, and with the advent of deoxys, there was only one thing its arrival could mean for Zero City.

It was built around the black rayquaza of Scotland- of the twelve rayquaza in the world, this was the strongest.

And it carried the Knights of Three and Twelve: Dark Angel Cynthia and Palace Maven Spenser.

'_Calm down Lelouch.'_ He ordered himself. _'Five Knights, two armies, two rayquaza, a mewtwo, multiple legendaries, and Schneizel. I've handled worse.'_

'_No, actually, I haven't. But if I last the next four minutes then I can still win.'_

* * *

"Sir?" Falkner saluted in the red-lit dungeon deep below Zero City. "We're ready to launch in T-minus two minutes."

Red looked up at his Vengeance, both its hands spread wide, grasping the Red Orb and the Blue Orb and sending energy down it. "Just hang in there." Red told his mewtwo as he pressed an elixir into the pokémon's neck, realising that it was beginning to reach its limit. "After this battle, we can rest."

The Grandmaster then turned to the gym leader and strode to the exit. "Begin the sixty-second countdown." He ordered. "I want every man and woman in position by the time we surface."

"Understood." Falkner nodded, relaying the orders as he followed the Knight of One.

* * *

Lelouch was panting for breath, as was Ryujin. A half-hour battle in any situation in ambitious, but half-hour when you are outnumbered three-to-one against three of the strongest trainers in Britannia was insane.

Zero was currently against _five_ of the strongest trainers in Britannia, and it was showing.

"_**Ha… ha…**_"

"_Do you surrender?_" The White Reaper asked, standing before his opponent.

Lelouch smirked behind his mask. "_**The White Reaper… The Dark Angel… Palace Maven… Pike Queen, Pyramid King, Why… take such names..?**_"

"We have no time for your games, Zero." Brandon snarled.

"It is a fair question." The aged Spenser told his fellow Knights from atop his crobat, before turning to the terrorist. "For the same reason _you_ hide behind that mask and the name of Zero." He answered. "The title is something to respect, to bring hope, inspire faith- instil fear."

"_**A fair answer.**_" Zero nodded, standing atop his lugia. "_**Tell me, in your eyes, am I a man, or a demon?**_"

"Another riddle." Spenser chuckled as the other knights held their tongues. "The mask of Zero is that of a demon, yet the man behind the demon is but that."

"_**WRONG ANSWER!**_"

The Knights recoiled in primal fear, before remembering themselves.

Zero's helmet had just opened at the jaw- revealing a mass of needle-like teeth as he shouted.

The jaw snapped shut, as viciously as it had opened. "_**The greed and darkness in the hearts of men have given rise unto me.**_" Zero declared. "_**That is why I shall break this poisoned world, and build it ANEW!**_"

"Yep." Brandon nodded. "Megalomaniac."

"_**Or perhaps I'm just stalling a last few seconds with this meaningless banter?**_" Lelouch smirked.

To their credit, the Knights realised they had been duped and sprang to action almost instantly. But it was just a second too late.

It was time.

And Zero was consumed by a pillar of magma.

* * *

A protected lugia flew down the lava and into the city of Zero as it ascended through the underground magma chambers. "Zero!" Ohgi shouted, running up to him.

"_**I'm fine.**_" Zero replied, recalling his pokémon. "_**I'll lead the battle from the command centre. We're going with plan sigma-fourteen.**_"

"Understood." Ohgi nodded as Zero walked away. "SIGMA FOURTEEN EVERYONE! LET'S GO!"

* * *

"Sigma fourteen, huh?" Silver asked himself. "Not a bad one."

"I was kinda hoping for Alpha twelve…" Blue moaned, scratching her back as she turned off to her position. "Later!"

The red-haired young man allowed himself a smile as the city rose through the fires of hell, before sending out Kerberos the entei and riding it to the front lines.

* * *

"Sigma fourteen…" Rivalz sighed, mounting his regirock. "That's the one where us Heavenly Blades sacrifice ourselves to create an opening for the rest, right?"

"No, that's Sigma seven through thirteen, and Beta seventeen." Asahina corrected.

"He did create a large amount of plans involving sacrificing our lives, didn't he?" Chiba asked.

"All twelve of the Omega plans involve Zero sacrificing his own life." Toudou replied. "There is the question of if he'd use them, of course."

"Well, seventy of the plans we had to memorise were decoys." Gold shrugged. "Wouldn't put it past him."

* * *

Zero, after making a quick detour to drink and switch for a simpler mask, sat calmly in his chair in the command centre. "_**What's our situation upstairs?**_" he asked, inserting a pen-drive into a USB slot on his monitor.

"The S.S. Rayquaza has set up a ground base, but the Bahamut's base is still airborne." Dawn explained. "Schneizel's rayquaza is active, and the S.S. Rayquaza is sending out ground troops while the Bahamut's aerial forces are taking position around the magma pillar."

"_**Good.**_" Zero nodded, tapping a few buttons. "_**Are our own forces ready?**_"

"Yes sir." Kris replied. "Everyone's in position."

Lelouch grinned, and displayed the plans from his pen-drive on the screen. "_**Change formation to Omega thirteen.**_"

"EEH?" everyone in the command room shouted.

"But… but there are only twelve Omega plans…" May protested.

"_**This one I just came up with.**_" Zero replied. "_**Initiate it.**_"

"Um… yessir…" Dawn asked, relaying the orders she was sure no-one would understand.

_\_ "Nice." _\_ Red smirked in reply. _\_ "I thought we'd be going with that one in the end, so I made the preparations already." _\_

Lelouch nodded. "_**T-minus NOW.**_" He declared.

* * *

The entire city lurched as a powerful Eruption attack cleared the path through the ground and Water Spout forced the city through the fresh tunnel.

This tunnel carved through the land and out into the ocean, creating a seven-mile wide trench between the new volcano and the ocean.

Unfortunately for the Black Knights, the S.S. Rayquaza's team had prepared for this move. With the power of the grand float system and the efforts of a team of backup salamenace, the base ascended into the air to avoid the collapsing ground, and landed on the rock a safe distance from the rapidly-filling trench that was an easy ten miles long.

The fissure itself was a mile wide at the surface, and the hollow space beneath it was much, much vaster than that, at least as wide as the city that just passed through it, and half a mile deep.

An obvious trap, but whoever forgot about it first would also be the first to die.

"Super-ancient pokémon are most impressive, aren't they?" Schneizel chuckled to himself. "Rayquaza's powers are also great, but its greatest asset is quelling the fury of a warring kyogre and groudon- an event which could reshape the planet if ignored."

"Does the prince suspect the presence of a kyogre and a groudon working in harmony with one another perhaps?" Lloyd asked with a cheeky smile.

"That's impossible." Wallace stated. "They are naturally opposing forces- they can never be in harmony. The closest they can achieve is forced submission by a rayquaza- obedience at best. But they would never work together."

"Seviper and Zangoose have been known to be tamed to battle as one." Nina pointed out.

"It's not a matter of overcoming instinct." Wallace told the scientist. "It is a fact of their existence. Beings of hate can NEVER forgive each other for their existence!"

"There was one man." Schneizel added quietly. "Who found the embodiment of hate itself- and he captured it, taught it to love. I'm sure that, in your line of work, you know of whom I speak of, Lloyd?"

"Well, there are very few trainers as skilled as the Grandmaster!" Wallace laughed, which slowly died as no-one else joined him.

"Do you believe the situation is quite that grave?" Lloyd asked cautiously. "If the Grandmaster himself has allied with Zero, then…"

"I am making no such accusations." Schneizel smirked. "But please advise our men to be cautious."

* * *

"Lady Euphemia?"

The blonde woman stood up to face the large elderly man who had just walked into Suzaku's quarters. "May I help you sir?" She asked suspiciously.

Watson propped up a video camera on a tripod and set up a laptop screen. "I was hoping that you could speak with the Eunuch Generals." He said, opening a case to show a pink wig, styled like the Princess's old hair. "I would prefer that this situation didn't end with war, would you agree?"

* * *

Red stood atop his charizard and fired his rifle into the air. "**CHARGE!**" he roared, taking off into the air at the remains of the two units.

Unlike the S.S. Rayquaza, the Bahamut was a research ship- it carried very few soldiers.

Most of the Rayquaza's soldiers had fallen into the deep trench and either drowned or were dashed against the stone as the scar in the earth filled with water.

The Black Knights severely outnumbered them.

And Zero could predict the only move left for them.

And he would allow them to take it. He would allow the abominations to come, to rise up against them and invade the home he built in the name of justice.

He needed the world to see the true face of Britannia.

"_DeeeEEEEOOOoooo xxxXXXYYyyysssS SSsss…"_

* * *

Shirley covered her mouth in shock as she watched the pirate broadcast of the battle on her TV screen. "Wh-what are those things..?"

* * *

Red winced, seeing the flood of deoxys pour from the Bahamut and the S.S. Rayquaza and glide towards Zero City.

Still, it was just as Lelouch had planed. Red trusted the rest of the Black Knights to weather that storm, just as they trusted him to occupy the Bahamut and the Dark Angel's attention.

Speaking of which…

"LORD RED!"

His Geass surged, warning him to duck just in time to dodge the decapicating strike of a garchomp. Smirking, Red span around it and sent out Vee, grazing it with a water stone as it leapt for the ground/dragon type. It morphed into a vaporeon and met the garchomp's charge with an Ice Beam to the throat, knocking them both off the black rayquaza.

Red recalled his Vee before it could fall any further and twisted his rifle at the same time, guiding Cynthia's sword away from him. "**Sorry, I saw that one coming.**"

She dropped the sword and held a pistol to his head. "So, you_ do _have the Geass."

"**Still investigating that?**" Ashford sighed. "**I'm telling you, you aren't going to find any—**"

His Geass didn't even get a chance to warn him.

**BLAM**

* * *

The deoxys army crashed into Zero City- but unlike the previous enemies the Deoxys had fought, the Black Knights were ready for them.

The first wave were peppered with artillery fire and long-range elemental attacks, weakening them enough for the electrode mines on the edge of the city finish the job. Those not blown to pieces were sent hurtling out of the city into the massive trench below.

The horde itself barely registered the damage, rushing for the kill regardless of the pain of having their limbs and flesh torn, burned and frozen.

After all, what was a little pain to tormented beings like them?

But even if they ignored the pain, it didn't change the damage done, meaning they were slower and weaker by the time they reached the first line of Black Knight defense.

Their mindless brute force, for the first time, couldn't stand up to Zero's strategy of attrition. The Black Knights tore into the abominations, giving no quarter to Brittania.

Silver spun around with his blades, hacking through the tentacles of the monsters as his pokémon rushed around the battlefield, organising the soldiers.

Rivalz rammed a nuclear hand into the mass of flesh. "I THINK THEY'RE GETTING THIRSTY!" he shouted, his regirock tossing three deoxys towards the trench.

"WELL THEN!" Silver laughed. "LET'S GIVE 'EM SOMETHING TO DRINK!"

FUMP

Silver glanced behind him to see the mangled corpse of Ashford Vi Britannia, limbs broken from the fall, and a bullet between his Geassed eyes.

* * *

"_**A-Ashford…**_" Zero choked, watching the recording from Silver's helmet camera.

"Focus on the battle." Diethard snapped.

"_**I KNOW THAT!**_" Lelouch screamed. "_**K-3, work with the blades and everyone, force the Deoxys over the edge.**_"

_\_ "Got it!" _\_ Silver growled. _\_ "Q-1! Give 'em hell for Red!" _\_

_\_ "Oh, you bet I am." _\_ Kallen snarled, riding her ho-oh towards the Dark Angel of Britannia.

* * *

"You have no intentions of ceasing fire no matter what?" Euphemia begged the Eunuchs. "Tianzi will die at this rate!"

_\_ "Tianzi is merely a system~."_\_ Zao Hai chuckled. _\_ "Replacements are abundant~." _\_

"So you'll just give up your land and authority to Britannia for authority?"

_\_ "As Britannian nobles, that's hardly our concern~." _\_ Hai snickered.

"What of the citizens that remain?" Euphie shouted.

_\_ "Your highness, when you walk, do you take care not to tread on the worms under the earth~?" _\_ the Eunuch asked her. _\_ "We throw away the paper we use to wipe our buttocks too~. It's the same idea~." _\_

"You… sell your country… throw away your leader… betray your people…" Euphie snarled, an unfamiliar, ugly feeling, one that she was sensing around Suzaku lately and one that she was finally beginning to understand. "WHAT IS IT THAT YOU WANT? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE WORTH THIS?"

_\_ "This is shocking~." _\_ Zao Hai laughed. _\_ "To think the legendary Euphinator was such an idealist~." _\_

Euphie gasped.

_\_ "There are any number of leaders we can use~." _\_ Zao Hai laughed. _\_ "Just like there are an infinite number of insects in this world to feed the pokémon we eat~!" _\_

"Completely… corrupt…" Euphie snarled, an aura of menace growing around her. "What a joke."

_\_ "Hm~?" _\_ Zao Hai asked.

"Officials that don't even know what the obligation of nobles are…" Euphie said, her fists shaking as she rose to her feet. "As leaders, your first and _only _concern should be the welfare of the people you serve! But slime like you, who trample and spit on _noblesse oblige_…** You can just die.**"

Zao Hai recoiled in fear from the black shape surrounding the princess as Wattson slammed the laptop shut. "I wasn't finished!" Euphemia protested, then froze as the old man, witless with abject fear, cocked a pistol and aimed it at his temple. "Wait, DON'T!"

**BLAM**

* * *

That conversation was spread to Shanghai, Beijing, Shouchun, Burma, Jakarta, Islamabad, all over the Chinese Union's cities and played very publicly.

Over twenty riots began simultaneously.

And even though the Deoxys, having taken human flesh, were growing stronger, Schneizel did not hesitate giving the next order.

"Recall the deoxys and retreat." He demanded. "A country is neither a territory nor its system. It's the people. Having lost the support of its people, the Eunuch Generals are no longer this country's representatives. We have no political right to fight here."

* * *

The deoxys began to disappear as rays of light coming from the S.S. Rayquaza called them back to their containment tanks.

The Black Knights hunted down and efficiently dealt with any stragglers, but to unbeknownst to them, they weren't alone in the extermination.

The Dark Angel had one final due to pay.

Cynthia rammed her blade down into the Deoxys devouring the Knight of One's body, and picked up the corpse almost lovingly. "I'm sorry…" she whispered, carrying him onto the Bahamut as she led the Brittanian retreat.

She didn't notice his eyes open.

* * *

_**IT APPEARS THAT EVEN YOUR ALLIES HAVE ABANDONED YOU**_

Zao Hai turned around to see only shadows. "Who's there~!" he demanded. "I have done nothing wro-~!"

_**LIES**_

"Eh~?" he asked, taking a step backwards.

_**THY FALSEHOODS ONLY HAVE POWER IN THE LIGHT**_

"Wh-who is this~!"

_**WHO KNOWS WHAT DARKNESS LIES WITHIN THE HEARTS OF MEN**_

Zao Hai screamed as a black hand reached out from the looming shadows and dragged him towards two piercing blue eyes under the white flames of death.

_**ME**_

* * *

"WE DID IT!" Dawn shouted at the bridge. "We won! They're retreating!"

"_**Silver. Deal with the politics. Ohgi, organise the survivors. Diethard, control the media. Tamaki, organise a victory celebration. Someone, please bring me Red's body.**_" Zero ordered meekly, rising from his chair and leaving. "_**Otherwise, leave me alone.**_"

"Lord Zero?" Kaguya asked as Zero loomed past her in the corridor. "Are you unwell?"

"_**My brother just died.**_" Zero snapped. "_**Go enjoy yourself.**_"

* * *

"Zero had a brother?" Kaguya asked discreetly during the celebrations that evening.

"Red. Red was his brother," Misty said, clasping her hands tight to stop them from shaking.

Silver stalked off to get some more drinks, and Blue squeezed her shoulder sympathetically.

* * *

A few hours later, Lelouch picked up a ringing pokénav. "**What?**" he sighed.

_\_ "Britannia took your brother's body…" _\_

Lelouch hung up on Rivalz. "**Bastards…**" he glared.

Then his pokénav began ringing again. "**What!**" he snapped, ready to crush the device in his bare hands.

_\_ "Hey, Lellow." _\_

Lelouch sat bolt upright. "**Ashford!**" he shouted in shock, recognising the voice. "**But, how? You died!**"

_\_ "That's right Lellow." _\_ Ash's voice told him pleasantly. _\_ "I did die Lellow." _\_

Lelouch caught up. "**You…**" he snarled. "**Monsters…**"

_\_ "It's alright Lellow." _\_ Ash's voice comforted him. _\_ "Dying's not so bad Lellow. At least I can still talk to you like this Lellow. Although, it's gonna suck in the bedroom Lellow. You know Lellow. Girl's tend to go for human guys, Lellow." _\_

Lelouch couldn't move, couldn't breathe.

This wasn't possible, this was a bad joke, his brother couldn't be-

But Ashford just laughed on and on.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Like I said. Not a Fix Fic.

_**Varanus:**__ Huh…_

Also, it gets worse. Much Worse.

Especially since I won't be updating tomorrow. Also, the rest of the week will also be full of Kick The Dog moments, since I'm gonna skip the 'Love Attack' episode and get right to the good stuff. And by Good_... _Yeah. _  
_


	31. Burn Your Bridges

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Karasu, yeah, it's a darkrai. Guess who it belongs to?

Greifen, I can't remember anymore. And nope, no original knights in this story. I just didn't like them.

As for everyone else, it shall all make sense soon.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_No one currently knows, that aside from the young Britannian's, Lelouch's, ambitions, there exist many desires and fluctuations of emotions._

_Then, Lelouch must face his other enemy. _

_But… his enemy… the one he must fix his eyes attentively on… will be the conglomerate of all the sins of mankind…_

_Hope and Atonement._

_Freedom and Solitude._

_However, the entity known as The World, regardless of what individual wills exists, just keeps continuing on its own… _

* * *

Ashford laughed as he heard his brother gasp in horror on the other end of the line.

_\_ "**You stay right where you are,**"_\_ Lelouch said, suddenly deathly calm. _\_ "**I'm going to kill you. I don't care if Schniezel himself is hiding you, I'm going to find you and kill you.**" _\_

Ashford chuckled. "Aw, I didn't know you cared so much, Lellow. That's really touching."

_\_ "**You think this is funny?**" _\_ Lelouch's voice snarled.

"I think it's bleeding hilarious." Ash told his brother. "Come on, as if _I_ would get eaten by Deoxys. Give me some credit."

_\_ "**Wait… you're not..?**" _\_

"Nah, I'm fine mate." Ash said with a smile. "Better than fine actually, I'm feeling great. Especially for a guy that was shot in the head and thrown from a sky dragon."

Lelouch cottoned on. _\_ "**Where are you now?**" _\_

"I'm in the Bahamut's morgue." Red explained. "Cynthia didn't bother searching a corpse for weapons, so she kindly lent me her pokétch."

_\_ "**How the hell did you survive? I saw you die!**" _\_ Lelouch asked, beginning to pace the room.

"I just took a leaf out of Auntie's book, I guess," Ashford replied, shrugging.

Lelouch realised what he meant instantly. _\_ "**You became immortal? How?**" _\_

"Bugger if I know." Red sighed. "Don't think I've got any of Auntie C.C.'s tricks though, other than Not Dying."

Lelouch let out a sigh. _\_ "**So, when you said you weren't human…**" _\_

"Yeah, figure of speech." Red snickered. "Man, if I could only see your face…"

_\_ "**No-one will be able to recognise yours once I get my hands on you.**" _\_ Lelouch growled threateningly. _\_ "**When I said I'd kill you, it still applies now. Do you have any idea how—**" _\_

"Sorry." Ashford apologized quickly. "Really. You know what I'm like, I don't really think about…"

_\_ "**Don't worry about it. I'm… I'm glad you're alive…**" _\_ Lelouch sighed. _\_ "**However, now we have a bigger problem.**" _\_

"Getting this handsome mug back to Zero City?" Red joked.

_\_ "**We need to regroup, of course, but first we need to destroy the house.**" _\_ Lelouch explained. _\_ "**If you've been captured, no matter how long ago or what you've done, Britannia knows. The house has traces of data that could expose weaknesses in Zero City. We need to destroy it.**" _\_

Red nodded. "Meet me in the Ruins of Alph in three days." He suggested. "Deal with everything in China, deal with whatever in Cerulean, and I'll see you there."

_\_ "**Good plan.**" _\_ Lelouch nodded, hanging up.

Red then handed the pokétch back to its owner. "Thanks beautiful." Ashford told Cynthia with a smile, his gun still pressed to her back. "So how's about we treat this civilly, woman and zombie?"

She glared over her shoulder in disgust.

"Not bad, but someone like yourself can't hide your interest from someone like me." Ash smirked, sliding off the table and pocketing his weapon. "So, Geass, where shall I start?"

* * *

The crowd turned to look at Zero striding into the wasteland of where the battle had been fought, where discussions between the Black Knights and the new Chinese Government were taking place. "_**I wished to give you the liberation of your country to you as a wedding present, but it appears that your fiancée dumped you at the altar. How sad…**_"

Zero mocked wiping a tear from his mask and then clamped a hand onto Xingke's shoulder. "_**This is your fault, so you have to take responsibility. **__**May you build China into the nation it deserves to be!**_ " he announced, placing a Kings Rock into the shoulders hand. "_**And I would recommend considering joining our United States Alliance.**_" He added, striding to the ocean. "_**I'll leave you in the capable hands of Silver, but I'm afraid that Britannia has taken something from me, and I need to retrieve it.**_"

C.C. was sitting on Ryujin as Zero jumped onto it. "Ashford's alive." She told him.

"_**I know.**_" Lelouch told her. "_**We're meeting up with him in three days, but I need to deal with some things back in Kanto, so I'll see you then.**_"

She smirked. "You've grown up, demon boy."

Behind the mask, Lelouch smiled. "_**Shut up, witch.**_" He laughed, watching her step from the storm dragon. Ryujin rose, letting Lelouch give a final wave to the crowd before diving into the ocean.

* * *

"And you had no idea…" Suzaku sighed, clutching his head once Wattson's corpse had been moved.

"I didn't want more people to die than were necessary…" Euphie replied, hunched forward on the bed with her hands linked together under her nose. "Though it appears that he was under the influence of the Geass…"

"Dammit…" Suzaku sighed. "To think Lelouch would even order his own men to die…"

"I don't think he was ordered to kill himself." Euphie replied, shaking her head. "I think he did it out of fear."

"Euphie?" Suzaku asked as his lover began shaking. "Hey, it's alright!"

"No… it isn't…" she replied, sobbing. "I killed them… I… killed the Eunuch Generals…"

"No, you didn't—" Suzaku started, before getting slapped.

"LISTEN TO ME!" Euphie screeched. "I did it! I wanted it… and… I made it happen…"

Suzaku made the wise decision of going silent, realising how disturbed and upset Euphie was. Rather than jumping to conclusions, he started trying to understand instead. "Alright." He nodded. "Tell me what happened."

* * *

Shirley snuck out of the school around three in the morning. She just needed a break.

So she wandered the city, and her feet led her to the one place where she thought she wouldn't find any comfort.

Because Lelouch wasn't home.

Except the lights were on.

She took a deep intake of breath in hope, and rushed towards the house as the lights turned off and Lelouch stepped outside.

"Lulu!" she almost shouted, before stopping dead in her tracks.

Lelouch had a lighter.

He tossed it into a puddle on the front doorstep.

And the Lamperouge household went up in flames.

* * *

'_I see… he knows that Britannia is able to recover data from documents destroyed from pokémon attacks, even fire and flood, so he manually poured gasoline throughout his house and burnt it without the use of pokémon, so a celebi couldn't be used to restore them…'_

Jeremiah chuckled and stepped into the crowd, letting a faint orange glow surround him for a few metres to protect himself as the nightlife crowd began to notice the flames.

So when the young girl he just passed collapsed to her knees in horror, he didn't think anything of it.

* * *

Lelouch stepped into the all-night Indian takeaway, where a couple of Britannians were haggling the owner over a kebab.

"I'm sorry sirs, but you're disturbing the other customers." Lelouch advised them, getting into the cue behind the two hooligans.

"What other customers!" one young lad snarled, swaggering into Lelouch's personal space as the other turned to face him with a sneer.

"**Me.**" Lelouch told them. "**Go home and rethink your life, both of you.**"

"Tch." The other lad grunted as he walked out. "I was gunna do that anyways."

"Um, thank you sir." The tired shopkeeper replied.

"No, it's fine." Lelouch sighed, silencing his new Geass as he walked up to the counter. "Actually, do you mind if I can crash on one of these tables for the night?"

"Should be okay, so long as you buy something…" the man replied, scratching his neck. "Dad's asleep, so…"

Lelouch smiled. "I'll have a mareep kebab then." He ordered.

* * *

"Hey, how's it going with you and Lelouch?" Misty asked Shirley in the locker room. "I mean, are you or aren't you?"

"Eh?" Shirley asked in shock. "N-no, no we aren't-"

"There's nothing to be blushing about." Villetta told Shirley. "We all know you luuurrve him."

"Miss Villetta!" Shirley shouted as the other girls giggled.

"You like him though, don't you?" Villetta asked. "So much so that you even stabbed me to save him."

"Eh?" Shirley asked as Villetta's hands started shaking.

"It was so painful…" the tanned teacher told her. "To live peacefully every day with the woman who tried to kill me… but I had no choice." She said, her face turning into a blank white mask and falling to the floor. "But to don the mask of a teacher… Shirley Fenette…" she growled, forming into the clothes she wore that night, blood seeping from her ribs. "How dare you stab me?"

Shirley backed off in shock, and ran into the corridor.

She ran past Olivia, who turned to reveal the blank, white mask covering her face which dropped to reveal a black abyss inside her head.

She ran past Rolo and Ashford, whose masks fell to reveal inky blackness.

She ran past Mr. Bill, her science teacher, whose mask dropped to reveal blackness behind that wavy hair that Milly had always admired.

Everyone… their masks… all falling… with only darkness behind them…

Only one other person had a face…

"LULU!" Shirley shouted, sprinting at full speed towards the man she loved.

He turned around with a smile. "What is it, Shirley?" he asked politely, his face morphing into a white mask that fell to the ground, revealing the black visor of Zero, which cracked open into the horrific roar Zero had shown the Knights of the Round, no, the whole world.

Shirley screamed.

Then she opened her eyes.

'_That's right…'_ she thought, sitting up in her bed, devoid of energy or happiness. _'Lulu is Zero… the monster who destroyed my father…'_

* * *

Lelouch was shaken awake. "Huh, wha~?"

"It's morning." The shopkeeper from last night told him, handing him a coffee. "You really shouldn't sleep with your laptop open, Zero."

That woke Lelouch up. "Don't worry!" the young man laughed. "Your secret's safe with me. I had no idea you were still a student."

Lelouch shut the laptop. "Well, I suppose that is the case."

The Indian man smiled and offered his hand to shake. "Jamil Zamahn." He offered.

"Lelouch Lamperouge." Lelouch replied, sipping his coffee.

He could afford a conversation with this young man, find out how people thought of Zero.

He could always Geass him to forget about it afterwards.

* * *

'_Lulu is Zero…'_ Shirley thought to herself on the train to Goldenrod city. _'Miss Villetta is a soldier, Kallen and Rivalz are members of the Black Knights…'_ Since the magnet train had been destroyed during the Black Rebellion, she was using the Celadon train which, while fast, gave her much more time to think. _'What about Nina? President? Ashford? Is school the only messed up place?'_

The slower train also made it easier for Shirley to spot the billboard advertising Area Eleven's new governor.

'_Why is Nunnally the Governor?'_ Shirley asked. _'What's real and what's not?'_

* * *

"It's good." Lelouch told Captain Stern in the Goldenrod train yard.

"Then we shall incorporate this design into all the trains and ships." The boat designer nodded.

"Though, I must ask;" Lelouch managed. "Why is a ship builder like yourself designing trains?"

"I wish to make the best of my abilities." The scientist replied. "Which is why your design shall be incorporated."

Lelouch smirked. _'Geass makes everything so much easier.'_ He thought.

* * *

"Shirley!" Suzaku shouted, striding up to her outside Goldenrod Gym. "What's the matter? Calling me out so suddenly like this? My girlfriend's gonna get the wrong idea!"

"Ah, sorry…" Shirley replied, hesitating.

"Shirley?" Lelouch asked, spotting the pair and jogging up to them.

* * *

Two armed guards fell to the ground, electricity sparking around their paralysed limbs.

"Just asking for Lelouch's location and they draw their guns…" Jeremiah Gottswald spat. "Most suspicious."

"LORD JEREMIAH!"

He turned around to see his old comrade. "Villetta…" he said.

"Lelouch is in Goldenrod City." She reported. "Please, just release me from here."

Jeremiah nodded. "Thank you." He said. "I accept your request."

* * *

'_What should I do..?'_ Shirley thought to herself as the two boys walked beside her atop the Goldenrod Department store rooftop. _'I called Suzaku out here, but what should I say..? Lulu's here too…'_

'_Shirley, what is the meaning of this?'_ Lelouch pondered. _'No, what if Suzaku was the one who called her out?'_

'_Ashfords report has stated that he was been with Lelouch all this time.'_ Suzaku contemplated. _'The MI5 can't exactly track them through the jungle, but we didn't receive information that Lelouch had returned to Area Eleven, so I can't bring myself to believe it.'_

'_I need to tell Suzaku that Lulu is Zero and __robbed__ my father __of his memories...__'_ Shirley decided. _'Wait… what if these two are accomplices! To get back Area Eleven… to get back Japan… that's right… these two were best friends to begin with…'_

She turned around in fear as two masks in her mind fell to the ground.

"What's the matter?" Lelouch asked her, taking a step forwards. "Shirley?"

He stepped on an imaginary mask, shattering it under his boots. "NO!" Shirley shouted, running to the ledge of the rooftop and climbing onto it.

"Shirley!" Suzaku shouted, running towards her with Lelouch.

"DON'T COME NEAR ME!" she shouted.

"Shirley…" Lelouch told her, trying to calm her down.

"Liars…" she gasped, taking a step backwards. "Everyone is fake… I-AAAGGH!" She screamed, tumbling off the skyscraper.

Lelouch sprinted forward and dove. He caught her wrist as she fell, and was thankful that Suzaku was there to grab his ankle.

Lelouch grunted, grabbing Shirley's wrist with both hands as they both dangled precariously over the ledge.

Shirley realised the drop, and gulped before looking up to see Lelouch grasping onto his wrist for dear life. "NO!" she shouted as one of Lelouch's pokéballs fell past her face as she struggled. "Let go! LET GO!"

"I CAN'T!" Lelouch shouted. "**I WON'T!**"

Shirley looked at him in shock. "I don't… I don't want to lose anything anymore…" Lelouch growled. "I don't want to lose… a single thing… Shirley…"

She nodded. "Okay…" she whispered, turning around in his grip and reaching out for his wrist.

Lelouch turned to look above him. "Suzaku!" he ordered.

The Knight nodded, planting his feet against the ledge and dragging the two people back onto the rooftop.

* * *

"Hey…" Kallen asked Rivalz as she bit into her pizza. "What do you think Lelouch is up to right now?"

"Eh, he's probably just hanging around or something."

Lemonade burst from C.C.'s nose as she exploded into laughter.

* * *

Lelouch, Suzaku and Shirley were all panting for breath atop the tower.

Being the one who didn't have to do any pulling, Shirley recovered first, despite the experience. "Suzaku's always pulling you up, isn't he Lulu?" she asked.

"If Lelouch was on top, we'd both be dead." Suzaku told her.

"If you're gonna say that, then save me before I fall, you psycho meathead." Lelouch told his old friend with a smirk.

"That's asking way too much." Suzaku laughed, before remembering himself. _'Why am I smiling?'_ Suzaku thought. _'No matter what Euphie says, Lelouch is still a monster…'_

Lelouch saw Suzaku's internal snarl, and looked away.

'_No, Lulu's working alone.'_ Shirley thought as a pokénav began ringing. _'Suzaku's not involved.'_

"Ah, that's mine." Lelouch told everyone, standing up to answer it. _'Villetta?'_

He flicked it open. "It's me." He said, walking a distance away from the others.

_\_ "Jeremiah's coming for you." _\_ Villetta explained. _\_ "The MI5 members at school have been taken out by him already, so there's no one I can send for you." _\_

"He's alive?" Lelouch asked.

_\_ "Yes, and what's more, he's much more in-tune with Rotom now." _\_ Villetta continued. _\_ "One of his eyes showed an inverted Geass- he may be able to negate the effects of yours and other people's Geass. The men you ordered to guard your secret seemed very disorientated before Jeremiah defeated them." _\_

"What happened?" Suzaku asked as Lelouch hung up. "That didn't seem like a call from a friend."

'_Could Jeremiah have restored Shirley's memories?'_ Lelouch thought. _'This isn't good, with Suzaku here…' _

Shirley slapped Suzaku on the back of the head. "Hey, my business with you comes first." She laughed.

"Ah, that's right." Lelouch nodded. "You two had a date, didn't you?"

"Jealous?" Shirley asked playfully.

Lelouch shrugged with a smile.

"Could it wait?" Suzaku asked as Shirley grabbed his wrist and dragged him along. "I need to—"

"Nope." Shirley laughed. "Come along now!"

'_This place is about to become a battlefield.'_ Lelouch thought as they left him. _'Shirley isn't about to tell Suzaku anything, not with eyes like that, so its best if she stays with Suzaku. He'll keep her safe and she'll keep him out of my way.'_

* * *

Lelouch watched as Jeremiah removed the Geass from the two guards Lelouch had ordered to kill Jeremiah, then beat them down bare-handed.

'_So he has the power to neutralise Geass…'_ Lelouch nodded. _'He's mostly likely immune to its effects too.' _Then a thought clicked. _'This would explain Euphemia's recovery, and if Shirley has truly remembered everything, then this would explain it too.'_

He pushed a switch which activated the anti-terrorist smoke systems, and waited on the balcony until he caught Jeremiah's eye. _'Come up and see me, Dunsparce.'_ Lelouch taunted silently.

* * *

"What's this important thing you wanted to ask me about?" Suzaku asked Shirley as they ate ice-cream, walking on the beach south of Goldenrod.

"I… I like Lulu." Shirley told him, sitting down in the sand. "Suzaku… do you hate him?"

"I… liked him… once." Suzaku told her, sitting beside her.

"And now?" Shirley asked, waiting a full ten seconds for an answer that didn't come. "I thought it was weird." She said. "You guys bonded so well before. Did you two have a fight?"

"I can't forgive him." Suzaku told her darkly.

"Nothings unforgivable." Shirley told him, mirroring the words that Euphemia had been telling him for the past few weeks. "It must be that you're the one who won't forgive him. You just don't want to forgive him."

Suzaku gasped. Euphie had told him all this already, but Shirley was being stricter with her words. "I've forgiven him long ago." Shirley continued, again mirroring Euphie's words.

"Shirley…" Suzaku said slight surprise. Speaking with her, he was slowly beginning to understand what Euphie had been saying… but his thoughts were interrupted as he heard the explosion, followed by the screams of those fleeing the Celadon Department Store.

Abandoning Shirley, Suzaku sprinted towards the police faster than humans should, then flashed his badge. "Knight of Five, Suzaku Kururugi." He introduced himself.

"My Lord!" they saluted.

"There's a possibility that this is terrorism." Suzaku explained as smoke billowed out of the doors and windows. "At this point on, all police and firemen in the area are under my command."

"Yes, My Lord!"

"And I'll need to have someone protect her." Suzaku added, nodding towards Shirley.

Whipping out his pokétch, he began to signal for backup from the other Knights. Glancing back at Shirley, he smiled reassuringly before making his way into the department store.

That's when she decided to wait two minutes before charging in after Suzaku.

'_Wait for me Lulu.'_ She prayed. _'I won't let you be by yourself.'_

* * *

"A human/hybrid body and a Geass Canceller." Lelouch remarked in the basement of the shopping centre. "Your persistence is just like a dunsparce's after all."

"It is not Persistence." Jeremiah said, approaching Lelouch. "I call it Loyalty."

"I do not like that." He stated as Jeremiah stepped onto the gray strip of ground, becoming paralyzed. "What value does that emperor hold for you to swear loyalty unto him?"

"Wh-what..?" Jeremiah gasped.

"Little known fact for you, Dunsparce," Lelouch said, clapping his hands. "You see, magnetic fields don't affect humans much, but if the flux of the magnetic field emitted is a certain frequency, well, pokémon can't _stand_ that. Locks up their muscles if they're not in their pokéballs. Imagine if someone put that fact to work? Well, there is precedent for it."

Jerimiah found himself pressed down to one leg from the weight of the invisible force pushing down on him.

"These tunnels were created by Team Rocket." Lelouch smirked. "These strips on the ground are electro-magnetized to emit a field of that exact frequency, trapping pokémon onto them. A trainer had to hit the switch or walk around, lest his pokéballs be sealed shut and his pokémon paralysed." Lelouch smirked. "I've been applying this effect into a projectile field, with all the transport in Kanto and Johto carrying it. Once it's completed and activated, these regions will be brought to a standstill- no pokémon that hasn't had the electromagnetic vaccine will be able to be used. You were a wonderful test case."

"You are an assassin sent by the Geass Order, I take it?" Lelouch asked. "Then I'll have you tell me; where is its location, where is Cyrus,

"You shall be the one to tell…" Jeremiah grunted, taking a forced step forward.

"What..?" Lelouch gasped.

"I have my reasons…" Jeremiah snarled, dragging himself forwards. "My readiness to carry out my Loyalty to the very end… and a truth I must find…"

"Impossible…" Lelouch gasped, reaching for his gun. "How the hell are you still moving!"

"Lelouch…" Jeremiah grunted, stepping forward. "Why do you act as Zero..? And turn against your fatherland, Britannia… and your very own father!"

Lelouch calmed down. "Because I am Lelouch Vi Britannia." He explained.

That stopped Jeremiah in his tracks better than any electromagnetic field could.

"My father, the Emperor of Britannia, let my mother die." Lelouch continued. "Because of that, Nunnally lost her eyes and legs… I never saw Ashford for years… together, we lost our futures."

"I know." Jeremiah replied. "I was there too. It was my first mission… to protect Empress Marianne, whom I greatly admired…" he collapsed to his knees. "But I couldn't… I couldn't even carry out my loyalty… Lelouch… you became Zero for Empress Marianne's sake, didn't you?"

"Wait, you didn't come here to kill me, did you..?" Lelouch asked.

"My master isn't Cyrus…" Jeremiah told him with tears running from his eyes. "But Empress Marianne… now… I can die with no regrets…"

"No." Lelouch stated, shutting down the field and rushing up to Jeremiah. "Your loyalty isn't over yet, is it?" he asked. "Will you fight with me?"

"Yes…" Jeremiah answered gratefully. "Your majesty…"

"I knew it."

Lelouch and Jeremiah turned to see Suzaku leading a handcuffed Shirley into the basement, blue flames in his hand. The girl pulled away from him, but she tripped in the gloom of the tunnel. "Shirley!" Lelouch shouted, running towards her to catch her as she fell. "Suzaku…" he snarled.

"That confession will do." Suzaku continued. "Shirley will act as a witness, since she can give her testimony both before _and_ after her memories were erased."

"Lulu!" she shouted. "I swear, I didn't tell him anything!"

"It's alright." He told her, scowling at Suzaku as he towered over him with cold, unforgiving eyes. "I know…"

* * *

"Sir, Lord Kururugi and a civilian are still inside!"

"And so is Zero and a rogue assassin~." Tucker told the policeman. "So deploy the damned deoxys already~."

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Yeah, next chapter will be all new stuff.

_**Varanus:**__ Dammit Tucker, things were going great until you came along!_

_And incase Lelouch's new Geass didn't clue you in, Geass and Code development works differently in this story than canon. Just so you guys know, we're not pulling Red's revival out of our asses. All will be revealed soon…_

And it will blow minds.


	32. Sensibility

Well. Today marks a new day in this story.

Why? Because last chapter was the last one to follow the Anime canon.

Starting from today, it's all new stuff, though I'll be using a few scenes from the anime to help me out. However, this is the point where the canon is now a mere guide.

And to prove my point, Chapters 33-35 will be written completely out of the canon.

Heraklinos, I don't intend to put Minatos into this story. However, by the time this chapter ends, you won't care.

Poggg, trust me when I say that that was the last time.

Karasu, I suppose that I'm not all that original then. And no, the Darkrai wasn't Cynthia's. And I've forgotten too.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_Long long ago, there was a monster without a heart._

_It looked with jealousy at the other monsters, and envied their hearts, and the love the humans had for those monsters with hearts._

_"If only I had a heart." the monster thought, "Then I too would be loved like the others."_

_So the monster came down from the sky, and it set out on a journey to take a heart._

_It split into two, in search for a heart._

_One half of the monster went far away, to strange lands in order to search for a heart._

_But the other half of the monster found a beautiful young lady, who took the monster lovingly and gave it a name._

_She raised the monster like her own child- giving it support, cherishing it, disciplining it when it did wrong, helping it make friends._

_The monster was happy._

_One day, the monster saw some strange men. They wanted to hurt the young lady._

_The monster didn't like that. These men had hearts, and they refused to love the lady like the lady loved the monster._

_The monster grew angry, and it took the hearts from the evil men._

_The lady screamed._

_She screamed in terror at the monster she had raised, beating it with sticks and ordering the monster to leave._

_The monster took her heart too._

_The monster went out into the village, and its friends turned against it too._

_The monster took their hearts too._

_Soon, the monster had many hearts, but it was all alone._

_One day, it met with the other half of the monster. "Did you find your heart?" the monster that stayed asked. "I found many hearts. Look at all the hearts that I have."_

_"I did not find a heart." The monster that left said. "But I found something better. I found that I was happy without a heart."_

_"But you need a heart to be happy." The monster that stayed said. "Happiness comes from the heart."_

_"Love comes from the heart, but Happiness is in the mind." The monster that left told it. "I realised that I could be happy as a heartless monster, and that's what I became. I am happy with what I am; I do not need a heart."_

_The monster that stayed grew angry, and took the brain from the monster that left._

_Then the monster that stayed realised._

_A heart that is all alone is nothing but a heart of pain._

_In fact, life as a heartless monster was happier, much happier, than that of a monster with many hearts._

Euphemia tore the page from the book she was writing and scrunched it under her fist. "Suzaku…" she sobbed, tears bouncing off the oak desk.

* * *

"Tell me, Suzaku." Lelouch asked him, rising to his feet after comforting Shirley. "What is the deal with those blue flames of yours?"

"What's the deal with your Geass?" Suzaku growled.

"Fair play." Lelouch sighed, trying to formulate a plot. _'Wait, if Jeremiah can nullify Suzaku's 'Live On' command, then I can use my Geass on him again…'_

"_DeeEEeeoooOOOooxxXxyyYYyyssss…_"

'_No, I'm going to need that to make sure we don't all die.'_

"To think you'd sink this low…" Lelouch snarled, reaching for Ryujin's masterball-

It was gone.

'_It fell when I was saving Shirley…'_ Lelouch realised. _'Perfect.'_

"Looking for this?" Suzaku asked, tossing two masterballs in his hands as he glanced towards the elevator shaft behind him. _'I didn't order for the deoxys.'_ He thought to himself. _'But I can't let Lelouch- no, Zero know that.'_

FZOOM

"Your majesty!" Jeremiah shouted, warping to Suzaku and slamming his arm down. "Please leave!" he begged, planting Suzaku into a pin. "I will hold the line for you!"

Lelouch rushed to Suzaku and grabbed one of the masterballs. "Lancelot…" he said, returning it to the roaring Suzaku before taking Ryujin. "You're going to need that. Jeremiah, don't die." He added.

"Yes." Jeremiah said with a smile. "Your majesty."

Lelouch grabbed Shirley's wrist and ran towards the tunnels that would lead into the underground, locking the door behind him as Suzaku roared his name.

"Calm yourself." Jeremiah told the soldier, releasing him from the hold and standing up. "We've got some monsters to exterminate. _Before_ they feast upon the civilians."

Suzaku snarled, then roared in anger, surrounding himself in blue flame as Jeremiah exploded into orange and cyan lightning.

"LANCELOT!" Suzaku shouted, throwing the ball behind him. "AFTER THEM!"

Before Jeremiah could stop it, the first deoxys broke through.

* * *

Lelouch dragged Shirley through the labyrinth of tunnels that Team Rocket had made all those years ago. "It's alright." He told Shirley. "We're safe."

Voices echoed down the tunnels behind them. "_DeeeeEEOOOooxxyyYYyysss…"_

"You just had to jinx it, didn't you?" Shirley joked lamely. "Wh-what are those things?"

"Deoxys." Lelouch told her. "Britannia's perfect weapon, made by Nina herself."

"Wait… _that thing!_" she shouted.

"I heard about the monster from Rivalz." Lelouch explained. "And I've fought them before. Their strength in unimaginable for a short period of time, twenty minutes at most, and then they begin to decay. However, if they take a human brain and voice box, then they become intelligent, and they can last longer."

"Lulu…" Shirley gasped as Lelouch handed her a gun.

"We sealed the only way in from the department store, so if deoxys is in here, then that means the enemy knew we'd try to escape this way, and sent some down here." Lelouch explained, his brow furrowing. "They are unimaginably difficult to kill, but Suzaku and Jeremiah should be fine. I, however, can't use Ryujin in a space this small, and none of my other pokémon have enough room to defeat them through speed. Because of that…" he loaded his own gun. "Make every shot count."

As soon as those words left his mouth, the wall beside Shirley screeched with the sound of metal tearing. Shirley shrieked in pain, clutching her shoulder.

"SHIRLEY!" Lelouch shouted, firing at the red spike that just burst through a gap in the wall of steel crates. It exploded, and he immediately began treating the wound on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, you're gonna be okay, alright?"

"Y-yeah…" she gasped as Lelouch tore his jacket to bandage the gash. "Yeah… Lulu…"

Lelouch stopped for a second to launch a bullet through the crack, and the Deoxys on the other side screeched. "Come on, we need to keep moving." He told her.

* * *

A tentacle stabbed through Jeremiah, but passed through him like he wasn't there.

The ex-purist grabbed the tentacle, sending a wave of thunder down it to fry its owner. Three more monsters rose to replace it, but an Ominous Wind blew through them, causing the monsters to flinch and hesitate long enough for the ghostly cyborg to split their blue skulls open with swift blows of his electrified blades. "How're you holding up?" he asked Suzaku, launching a thunderbolt into another deoxys.

Suzaku's burning hand clenched down onto a deoxys face, crushing it before he tossed its burning corpse back into the shaft. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO GO AFTER THEM?" he shouted at the Lancelot, who was slicing through deoxys with his psycho cut attack.

"Your pokémon is wiser than you, it seems." Jeremiah told him.

* * *

Lelouch stopped to let Shirley breathe, and fired three shots into the pursuing deoxys as she vomited onto the floor.

"Come on." He told her. "We need to keep moving."

"I… know… Lulu…"

He flung her arm over his shoulders, fired two more shots to finish it, and they got moving again.

"Just… one more… Lulu…" Shirley gasped. "Round… this corner… Lulu…"

"How can you be sure?" Lelouch asked, looking around the corner cautiously.

There was one more tentacled abomination.

Lelouch stepped out and took aim before it noticed him and he emptied the clip into the monster's skull and core. "How did you know?" he asked Shirley.

"It's… inside… Lulu…"

"What?" Lelouch asked her in confusion, kneeling down next to her and gasping as the blue and red veins began spreading up her neck.

"The deoxys… are in me… Lulu…" Shirley choked, shedding a tear. "Lulu… I'm sorry Lulu…"

* * *

"The scoundrels are retreating!" Jeremiah laughed, firing more electricity up through the shaft.

"That's… wrong." Suzaku realised. "Deoxys don't retreat; they have nowhere to retreat _to._ Once they leave their pokéball, they kill until they die."

Jeremiah scowled. "Suggesting that they have reached a strategic objective..." he muttered, before realising what was happening. "His Majesty!"

He fell down as Suzaku planted a fireball in the small of his back. "Not you." He stated, handcuffing the unconscious Jeremiah to a pole and recalling Lancelot. "I'll get him."

* * *

"No…" Lelouch gasped as Shirley's hand grew limp- as if all the flesh and bone inside the skin had vanished. "No, no NO! SHIRLEY!"

"It's too late Lulu…" she sobbed as her legs began to deflate. "They've got me Lulu…"

"NO!" he begged, tears beginning to stream in his eyes. "SHIRLEY!"

"AAGH!" she screamed, and Lelouch felt a tentacle slither around his ankle. "So… this must be what birth is like Lulu…"

Lelouch stepped back from the tendril and realised where it was coming from. "The bastards…" he snarled. "Are they really that twisted? TO MIMIC HUMAN BIRTH?"

"I was hoping… I'd mother your children one day Lulu…" Shirley told him happily, delirious from the pain as the tentacles began to saw upwards. "I guess AAGGH! That isn't going to happen anymore Lulu…"

"Just, just stay clam…" Lelouch begged her as her skull began to cave in. "Just please, don't LEAVE ME!"

"Good…bye Lulu…" she managed before her jaw and throat flattened.

Lelouch took a step back from her corpse in horror. "Shirley… _**SHIRLEY!**_"

* * *

C.C. held her jirachi close. "I know…" she whispered, her brow tightening. "I know…"

* * *

Lelouch stepped back from the monster crawling out of Shirley's shredded remains, shucking her empty corpse off its body like a wet rag. "No…" he gasped

"_It's not so bad Lulu._" Shirley's voice replied. _"I know I don't look the same, and I'm just a voice in deoxys, but I still love you Lulu._"

'_Come on…'_ Lelouch thought desperately. _'Come on, Shirley's STILL IN THERE!_'

"Shirley's still in there…" Lelouch realised, having an epiphany.

"**Shirley.**" He said, locking eyes with the deoxys and removing his contact lens. "**I need you to listen to me very carefully.**"

The deoxys stopped moving, entranced by his double Geass. _"I'm listening Lulu. The deoxys wants us to talk for one last time Lulu."_

Lelouch held his tongue, controlling his rage as he tried to work out how to word this command. "**You are still Shirley.**" He said. "**Your free will is being controlled by Deoxys, but you are still you.**"

"_That's right Lulu."_ Shirley's voice replied. "_I'm still me Lulu."_

'_I can give as many orders I like as long as I maintain eye contact.'_ Lelouch thought. _'Once I break eye contact once, then I don't get a second chance.'_

"**You are Shirley Fenette.**" Lelouch ordered. "**You are Shirley. Deoxys may have taken your body and your mind, but your soul is still yours. You can fight it.**"  
"**No, you MUST fight it!**" he demanded. "**Shirley Fenette, I am commanding you to take control of Deoxys- make it **_**your**_** host. Take control of **_**all**_** its abilities and knowledge, use it to forge for yourself a new body, and don't let it control you. CONTROL DEOXYS!**"

Click

"I won't let you enslave her again." Suzaku told Lelouch, who instinctively turned to the gun pointed at his head, breaking the Geass. "Especially not to sacrifice her to one of those monsters. It's over, Lelouch." He snarled, completely unaware of what had happened to Shirley around the corner.

"**SUZAKU YOU IDIOT!**" Lelouch roared, slamming the gun aside and lunging for his friend's throat. "**I COULD HAVE SAVED HER! IF YOU HAD JUST SHUT YOUR FACE I COULD HAVE SAVED HER!**"

Suzaku launched Lelouch back with a wave of blue flames, but was slammed into the ground by three powerful tentacles.

"_I… I… Lulu…"_

Deoxys screamed.

It stood upright, its uppermost tentacles clutching at its head as a crack began to form across its expressionless blue mask of a face.

Then it shuddered.

Its flesh began to ripple and bubble, its tentacles curling in on themselves, flattening as if they were being sucked dry.

It curled over, shaking with violent spasms, and turned to Lelouch, as if it was begging for mercy.

Two dark, slender hands reached out from the mouth-like crack in the deoxys' face.

They grabbed either side of its maw.

And pushed.

Deoxys was torn apart- splitting in two down to the waist.

Blood and bodily fluids flew around the room, caking the walls, Lelouch and the unconscious Suzaku in the juices.

And Shirley Fenette stepped out of the gore, naked as the day she was born. "Lulu…" she gasped, stumbling into the arms of the boy who saved her. "Thank you…"

* * *

C.C. exhaled deeply, clutching her left eye. "That's… good." She whispered. "That's good…"

* * *

"**Suzaku's out cold.**" Lelouch explained to Shirley as she stripped the clothes from her corpse and dressed.

"Hey, Lulu…" Shirley managed. "I… died, didn't I?"

Lelouch hesitated for a moment.

"**Would you like me to comfort you, or to tell you the truth?**"

"So I died…" Shirley nodded. "And… I'm a monster now… aren't I..?"

Lelouch turned around to see her slip into her dress. Her hair was a deeper shade of orange than it once was, with a cyan streak down the back. Her skin was dark, almost grey, and the whites of her eyes were black, her iris's white and the pupils black.

A red tear ran down her cheek as a tentacle began to mutate out of her shoulder. "**No, you're not.**"

The tentacle fizzled away as Shirley turned to him. "What?"

Lelouch stood to face her. "**You're Shirley Fenette.**" He explained. "**Beautiful, kind, smart, funny, and you're absolutely wonderful.**" He smiled and pulled her into a hug. "**I've caused you far more pain than you deserve, because you are one of the nicest people on this corrupt planet and you just keep on giving, no matter how much pain you go through… and I'm sorry…**"

"L-Lulu…"

"**Listen to me.**" he told her, grabbing her face gently and looking into her eyes. "**I am about to go down a path that will only bring pain to those around me. You can still walk away, be happy, meet someone new, someone who can appreciate you as much as you deserve, and I'll be happy knowing that you're happy. Please…**" he begged her. "**Don't follow me this time.**"

She reached up and touched his wrist. "I'm coming with you, Lulu." She said with a smile, another bloody tear running down her face.

"**Please Shirley.**" Lelouch told her. "**I won't ask you again.**"

"Good." She smiled, reaching her other hand to stroke his chin. "Because I want to stay with you."

Lelouch smiled. "**Alright then.**" He told her, bringing a hand up against her shoulders and breathing against her cheeks. "**I'm sorry, but trust me.**"

He pressed the cherish ball against her bare shoulders.

"LULU!" she shouted as she was turned to energy and dragged inside the capsule.

"**I'm sorry Shirley.**" He explained. "**But right now, Britannia is out to kill me and it'll be safer if I move alone. Suzaku sealed my lugia's masterball so I can't just fly out of here- I'm going to be fighting tooth and nail to escape this city alive, and I don't want to risk them hurting you.**"

Then he noticed the clothes on the floor.

He lifted up the capsule to see Shirley curled up into a very, very angry ball holding her pokétch.

"**You can only take one item in with you…**" Lelouch realised. "**Whoops?**"

Shirley fumed, giving Lelouch an expressive hand gesture- her hand growing to triple its normal size to make sure Lelouch got the message.

Lelouch laughed and pocketed her dress as Suzaku groaned, beginning to wake up.

"Shall I kill him your majesty?" Jeremiah asked. "I would have asked sooner, but…"

"**Thank you, Jeremiah, and no**." Lelouch told him, walking away. "**It's obvious now that he didn't call for the deoxys. And besides,****I gave him the command to 'Live On' for a reason. Now, I need you to unlock this for Me.**" he commanded, handing Jeremiah the ball for Ryujin.

"It will take me a while your majesty." He replied as Britannian soldiers began to storm the basement. "And that is time that you do not have."

Lelouch nodded. "**Meet me north of the city and wait for Me.**" he ordered. "**And please, stop referring to me as royalty.**"

Jeremiah smiled. "As you wish, sir."

"**That will suffice.**" Lelouch smirked as Jeremiah faded into the ground.

He then opened a crate and took a new firearm, as well as a box of ammunition. "**Sandslash.**" Lelouch sent out. "**Help me to get out of here.**"

* * *

Lelouch had pocketed the contact lens, as it was worthless now that his second eye had experience Geass Runaway- he could no longer control either of them.

He was like Mao was before he was killed.

'_I'll have to ask Ashford how he managed to learn to control his double Geass._' Lelouch thought. _'I really don't feel like wearing two contact lenses.'_

Lelouch peeked through a gap in the wall of crates that sandslash indicated, seeing the soldiers on the other side. _'Goggles…'_ Lelouch scowled. _'They came prepared to fight someone with a Geass…'_

He took a silent breath, and then slunk through the labyrinth. _'If I fire once, my location will be discovered.'_ Lelouch thought as he moved silently. _'So I need to take out the strongest first, then fight my way out with my pokémon…'_

Sandslash seemed to realise this, and turned a corner quickly. Lelouch followed it, and he was led to a set of shelves, behind which was the Dome Superstar Tucker, with two of his dawnstone blades at the ready and mirrored sunglasses.

Lelouch checked the ammo of his shotgun, and nodded to his sandslash.

The spined pokémon nodded, and charged, knocking the shelving down with Strength before leaping back as Tucker slashed through the steel, charging at Lelouch.

**BLAM**

The Knight of Ten was launched backwards through the warehouse, slamming against the steel crates behind him, his body riddled with bullets as Lelouch pumped the shotgun and fired again.

Lelouch then ran towards his remains and reached for the blades- only to find one at his throat.

"Heh, I know what you're thinking~!" Tucker wheezed, sunglasses hanging off his ear, grinning despite the blood pouring from his face and mouth. "You didn't think this fantastic outfit of mine would withstand a shot like that. Well, let me tell you something~!"

"**Shut up and answer me.**" Lelouch snarled, looking the Knight dead in the eye with his double-barreled Geass.

Tucker froze, lowering his dawnstone blade. "Sure thing handsome~."

"**Deoxys couldn't have been deployed without military consent.**" Lelouch growled. "**Was it the doing of the Knights of the Round?**"

"Yep, my orders, all to catch you~," grinned Tucker. "Pity it didn't work, but in the end I've got you in my clutches, so that's fine~!"

"**A civilian died.**" Lelouch growled. "**A student. Why the hell did you release those monsters in an urban area?**"

"Who cares~? It's just collateral damage in the end~." Tucker confessed with a shrug. "Catching Zero is far more important than little details like that~."

Lelouch felt sickened just speaking to the man. "**I see. In that case, die.**"

Tucker smiled pleasantly and pressed the razor sharp edge of his sword firmly against his neck, slicing through his jugular like a carrot. A slight look of shock overtook him as the Geass command faded, and he gurgled in surprise before slumping over, dead.

Lelouch barely gave him a second glance as he confiscated the six blades; strapping the network of scabbards onto his own back. Dawnstone was rare, and these weapons were not to be ignored.

Lelouch then rolled to the side as flames and gunfire occupied the space he was previously in._ 'Found me already…'_ he scowled, reloading the shotgun._ 'Why did I __leave my alakazam behind__?'_

'_Because I had Ryujin.__'_ He remembered, mentally kicking himself._ 'Of course that's why I did it.'_

He waited for the enemy to cease fire, and he jumped out into the corridor, firing a wild shot and sending out lucario to take them down from behind. It worked surprisingly well.

Lelouch then recalled his pokémon, and got to work escaping the city.

* * *

C.C. sighed, holding Jiro out in her arms. "It's almost time, isn't it?" she asked.

* * *

Once he reached the surface, it was a simple manner of Geassing a careless soldier and taking his uniform, then leaving the city under the cover of darkness to meet up with Jeremiah.

He was able to break the seal easily, and Ryujin was glad to be with his master again.

Lelouch released Shirley from her pokéball in the forest, looking away as he handed her the clothes he took. "**If you come with me, then there's no turning back.**" Lelouch told her as she dressed.

"Hey, Lulu…" she asked him. "How… many people have you killed?"

"**Today, on a whole, by my hands, by my plans, or as a result of my actions?**" Lelouch asked. "**Either way, the answer will be 'Not as many as I will end up killing'.**"

SNAP

Lelouch glanced back to see Shirley toss her broken pokétch into the trees. "Alright then." Shirley replied with a quivering smile. "I'll have to take some of that blood onto my own hands then…"

They both looked up as a white burst of light coursed across the sky. "Oh yeah…" Shirley remembered. "It said on the news that the millennium comet was going to appear in the sky tonight…"

Lelouch looked up at the light in the night sky morosely. "**Yeah…**" he replied half-heartedly.

And the world turned into light.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Dun dun dun. Cliffhanger.

_**Varanus:** I'm looking forward to this next bit._

With good reason. 

So, who's seen Monster lately?_  
_


	33. Zero Vice

This may well be the last chapter of this story. I could also be lying. You should read and find out.

WakingWorldDreamWorld, I'm Mormon preparing for a mission, so I don't smoke anything. I'm also not drunk or using anything illegal, so this is all natural madness.

Heraklinos, I read Monster a few weeks ago. Right now I'm reading the Pokémon Special manga. It's given me a fair few ideas.

Naru-chan, that's why I didn't put him in.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

C.C. woke up to find his hand fondling her breast. "Stop it!" she laughed, playfully batting his hand away. "First thing in the morning and you're already at it?"

"I was just thinking, what would be the best way to start my day, and it just came to me." He told her with a smirk, his hand moving to C.C.'s rounded stomach. "Whoa!"

C.C. smiled. "You feel that to?" she asked.

"Yeah…" Lelouch told her with a smile. "I'm really gonna be a father…" he managed, almost in disbelief.

C.C. smiled mischievously. "What makes you so sure it's yours, boy?"

Lelouch vaulted over the bed. "**Don't even go there, witch.**" He told her, flaring up his Geass.

"You know that doesn't work on me." C.C. told him.

"**You sure?**" Lelouch asked. "**Because I'm pretty sure it would if I commanded you to kiss me.**"

C.C. giggled. "Nope." She replied. "Nothing."

"**Whoops.**" Lelouch said with a grin. "**Silly thing's in reverse.**" He explained, moving in to kiss his wife.

* * *

Eventually, C.C. kicked Lelouch out of the bed and he went to the bathroom.

He inadvertently spent slightly too long admiring the simulacrum of a beard he'd achieved from three days of no shaving. He only stopped when he noticed C.C. peering around the doorframe, and snickering behind his back.

He scowled as she slunk off, and he turned back to the mirror and held a hand out towards the shower rack as his shaver flew from the other side of the bathroom into his hand.

He glanced at it, stroked his three-day stubble, but decided to incinerate the shaver in a ball of black flames.

* * *

Dressed in a dark suit, red shirt and black tie, Lelouch donned his black sunglasses as he left the house, lighting up a cigarette as he did so. He took a single drag from it before flicking it into the road as he vaulted into his convertible. "Time to hit the road." He muttered, revving the engine to life.

"Pika!"

Lelouch looked down at the pikachu riding shotgun. "Guess you're my partner from now on, huh?" he smirked, before driving out into the street.

* * *

"LLLEEEELLLOOOUUCHHEE!"

Lelouch sighed as he stepped into the police department building. Da Chief was pissed at something he's done again.

Leaving the pikachu behind, he took a mug of coffee from some intern as he walked through the desks towards the room full of hate that was waiting for him. He then spat the drink onto the floor. "What is this shit?" Lelouch shouted back at the intern. "If I'm gonna steal your coffee the least you can do is make it right!"

"_LLLEEEELLLOOOUUCHHEE!_"

"Coming!" Lelouch groaned, lighting up again as he trudged to Da Chief's office.

* * *

C.C. lay on the couch with a satisfied smile, stroking her belly.

"But… why Lelouch…?" she asked. "And why am I…"

She shook her head. "Let's just enjoy it." She muttered to a pokémon that wasn't there.

* * *

Chief Milly Ashford was Da Chief of the Zero City Police Department. A Father To Her Men, she maintained order with an iron first and a magnificent handlebar moustache, even if she refused to admit that it was fake.

There were only two men on the entire force who would dare disrespect her authority, and one of them was in hospital.

The other was his partner, and was smoking in front of Da Chief.

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU EVEN BREAK FIVE LIMBS LULU?" Milly shouted. "HOW? PEOPLE ONLY HAVE FOUR!"

Lelouch lifted his smoke from his teeth. "Red was interrogating a suspect when her partner came in."

Milly facepalmed. "He didn't…"

"The doctor said his neck will recover fine if he stops nailing the nurses." Lelouch shrugged, returning his smoke to its rightful place in life.

Da Chief sighed. "It's a good job I set you up with a new partner then."

"Partner?" Lelouch spat the cigarette onto the patch of scorched carpet where he usually stood. "I work alone. Except when I work for Red. Which is all the time."

"He's a loose cannon Lulu, and so are you." Chief Milly explained. "The Difference is, however, that Red is good for publicity whereas _you_ solve cases. That's why you're on the Zero case."

"I've been on the Zero case since he killed my half-brother Clovis five years ago." Lelouch corrected. "That's why I joined the force."

"Perhaps your new partner can make sure you _stay_ on the force." Da Chief warned as there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

A brown-haired man in gold tinted sunglasses and a broad moustache walked into the room in a white suit, black shirt and yellow tie walked into Da Chief's office. "Suzaku Kururugi from the Kanto branch." He saluted, removing his sunglasses. "Reporting for duty sir!"

"At ease." Milly smirked. "Lulu, meet your new partner."

* * *

"Hey, Kallen!"

The red-head cringed as her partner approached her loudly from behind. "Dammit Rivalz!" she hissed. "Keep it down!"

"Why?" he asked, before shrugging. "Anyway, about last night-"

She slammed his head on the desk, holding his nose an inch from the table for a second blow as she leaned into his ear. "_Don't. Say. Anything. About. Last. Night._"

"I was talking about the farfetch'd smuggler we were chasing?"

"Ah!" Kallen gasped, letting Rivalz go. "Sorry, you're right…"

"Those two are sleeping together, aren't they?" Suzaku asked Lelouch as they walked past.

"Not that she'll ever admit it." Lelouch replied. "I see you got that badge for a reason."

"Highest correct arrest percentage three years running." Suzaku told him.

"My partner has the highest arrest record _five_ years running." Lelouch snapped.

"He also has the _lowest_ correct arrest percentage in history." Suzaku snapped back. "And the record for the most buildings destroyed, squad cars totalled, complaints of inappropriate conduct and fraternisation."

Lelouch laughed. "Yep, that's Red alright." He said, before stopping dead at the door. "People complained?"

"Usually the husbands and fathers."

"Ah." Lelouch nodded, stepping outside and lighting up again. "That sounds about right. So, what do you know about the Zero case, Suzan?"

"Other than what you put in the files?" Suzaku asked. "That he's involved with Silver Laguada."

Lelouch looked at him. "The same who took over Team Rocket after his father's death?" he asked, hopping into his car.

"The same." Suzaku nodded, walking around the vehicle to use the passenger door. "And why is it that you allow mobsters to run wild in this city?"

Lelouch sighed as he turned the key in the ignition. "There are two sides of law enforcement, the surface and the underworld." Lelouch explained, driving away from the station. "Despite what my record suggests, we the police are bound by the law. The mafia is also bound by law, just a different, harsher one. Some things in our system are illegal to them, and some things in their system are illegal to us. We share the same land, but both Da Chief and their Boss want to minimise conflict between these two sides."

"We both have our own 'Justice', and we allow people to choose which one they follow." Lelouch continued. "And it usually works. The two worlds, light and darkness, don't grind against each other, everyone gets paid, we're all happy. Zero, however, is a third faction to this whole business."

"His name suggests that he thinks he represents the city." Suzaku suggested.

"That's the whole damned problem." Lelouch snarled. "The police are Light, the Rocket's are Dark, and he thinks he's representing the people by flipping off both sides of the coin and playing spin-the-bottle. The citizen's think he's great, but they also think that about Red, and look at him."

Suzaku raised an eyebrow. "I thought you respected your brother."

"And I damned well do." Lelouch replied, tossing the cigarette butt into the street. "I also accept that he's completely off his head, and plays by his own rules. If it wasn't for the fact that he lives for the badge, then we'd have taken him out long ago."

"Assassinations?" Suzaku asked in shock. "I thought we were the Light?"

"Light isn't necessarily Good." Lelouch explained, turning onto 22nd street. "This city works because it ticks on a knife edge- everyone who knows what's going on pitches in to stop the whole thing going to hell, but you get some idiots who think they know better and declare something stupid like cracking down on organised crime."

"I doubt Zero's one of these." Suzaku told his new partner.

"That's the worst bit- the bastard knows exactly what he's doing." Lelouch snarled. "He doesn't give a damn about anyone else- so long as there is chaos. That's why we need to stop him."

Suzaku nodded morosely. "You know, for a comparative utopia, this city is surprisingly dark." He commented.

"It's also very Light." Lelouch smirked. "Weren't you listening to a word I just said?"

* * *

C.C. opened the French doors and walked out onto the balcony, leaning on the fence overlooking the ocean.

Lugia burst from the water with a happy cry. "You're still the same." She said, stroking the beast's beak-like face with a smile. "You never change."

"Gia."

* * *

Lelouch kicked the door down, stepping into the building with two guns aimed at several heads. "POLICE!" he shouted as Suzaku entered the room, his one gun aimed professionally at the floor. "HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE 'EM!"

"You do this every time." One grunt sighed, dropping his card game and walking over to the door to replace the hinges. "Who's the fresh meat?" he asked, polling out an electric screwdriver to repair the door.

Suzaku looked at the three machoke who acted as the grunts opponents. "I'm his partner-"

"Temping." Lelouch interrupted. "Where's Silver?"

"Out back." The grunt shrugged. "He's been expecting you."

"He's always expecting me." Lelouch sighed. "Just once I'd like to surprise him."

"Try knocking." Suzaku suggested. "He'd never see it coming."

Lelouch glared, then moved to the door and opened it.

He saw Silver leaning on his desk.

Pointing a gun at him.

**BLAM**

* * *

Lugia descended back into the water as the doorbell rang. Tilting her head, she turned around and walked through the house to the front door.

"Hii~!" Marianne Vi Britannia sang, waving with her husband, Charles Zi Britannia standing behind her, carrying a bag of meat on his broad shoulders. "How's my beautiful daughter-in-law?" she asked.

C.C. stood there in shock for a few moments, before recovering. "Er… fine, come on in…"

* * *

Lelouch leant to the side, the bullet grazing his cheek. "Now would you look at that?" Lelouch asked, the wound healing before Silver's eyes. "I was proud of that beard."

"Anyone other than you wouldn't be able to dodge that." Silver smirked, putting down the smoking gun. "So, I presume that you are here concerning Zero?" he asked.

"What's your connection with him?" Lelouch asked.

Silver smirked. "I think you're asking the wrong questions." He replied.

"I think you're being a bigger prick than usual."

"I'm thinking that I might tell you his true identity if you get on your knees and beg."

That stopped Lelouch dead. "Impossible." He snarled. "No way would he take his mask off."

Silver smirked. "I assure you that I'm telling you the truth."

"We have ways of making you talk." Suzaku said, looking at Lelouch. "Right, Lelouch?"

Lelouch snarled, but settled for pulling out another cigarette. _'I've Geassed Silver before, and I don't want newbie to know about it.'_ He thought angrily. _'Knowing my luck I've probably Geassed him too.'_

Suzaku decided to lead the interrogation. "Tell us what we know, or we'll come back here with a warrant for your arrest."

Silver bust up laughing. "Yeah, like you'd ever get THAT!"

"Silver runs half this city." Lelouch replied. "The Governor runs the other half."

"Well, that's fine." Suzaku nodded. "I happen to be dating the Governors daughter, so I'm sure-"

"This guy and his brother both asked him, they got nothing." Silver laughed.

"Eh?" Suzaku asked, before using those detective skills of his. "Wait, you're the Governor's son?"

"Me and Red." Lelouch explained. "We use our mom's name for work though."

"Er…" Suzaku managed. "Wow."

Click

"Ah, so this is the famed Blue?" Lelouch asked, turning around to face her as an entei tackled him from the front. "Should've seen that coming."

"I'll tell you this, gentlemen." Silver said as entei kept Lelouch pinned down. "Zero is someone from your past, Lelouch Vi Britannia."

_\_ "Detective Lamperouge, Detective Kururugi!" _\_ Dawn's voice called over the radio. _\_ "Respond!" _\_

"This is Detective Kururugi, what's happening?" Suzaku asked as Lelouch pushed himself out of Kerberos's grasp.

_\_ "A body's been found, you need to get here right away." _\_

"You can drive." Lelouch told his partner, tossing him the keys. "Damned mutt…" he added, growling at the entei as he nursed his shoulder.

The entei growled back.

* * *

"So, what do we have here?" Detective Lamperouge asked, hopping over the yellow tape and walking into the apartment building.

"I have no idea sir…" the police officer gasped. "In all my years on the force, I've never seen anything like this…"

Lelouch squatted amongst the biomass, turning on a Dictaphone and clipping it to his jacket. "The victim is a young woman in her twenties, white, orange hair." He reported, examining the body. "The body shows excessive vaginal trauma. The thighs have taken similar damage and her pelvis has been split apart at the front. This suggests a violent sexual attack, though the force of the damage suggests that something like a drill was used as a proxy for the attacker's penis."

Lelouch scowled, feeling inside the wound. "However, the damage within the abdomen is not consistent with that hypothesis, as the cavity created is erratic and random, suggesting work by hand or small pokémon, possibly a rattata or bellsprout—"

"HAVE YOU NO RESPECT?" Suzaku shouted.

"I'm investigating the scene of a crime, detective Kururugi." Lelouch told him, pausing his Dictaphone. "I suggest you do the same."

Suzaku sighed, calming himself as he walked into another room.

It was the victim's bedroom, and her diary was on display. "Shirley Fenette…" he whispered, looking around the room and stopping when he saw a shocking photograph, one of his partner and the victim posing for a school photograph.

"Lelouch… knew her?"

He peered back into the kitchen to see Lelouch examine the corpse with a silent fury. "Oh…" Suzaku realised, before returning to the bedroom.

The victim had been preparing to go out, either to a party or a date; that much was certain. A fresh dress and some lingerie were laid out on the bed, and several other clean dresses were tossed into the corner of the room, suggesting that she'd been deciding what to wear.

There was also a wrapped present on the bed, addressed to –_ Lulu~ X -_

* * *

Half an hour later, Lelouch and Suzaku were outside the crime scene drinking a much needed coffee. "You okay?" Suzaku asked as the bodybag was moved into the ambulance.

Lelouch was silent for a moment. "Hey, Suzaku, you into pornography at all?"

"Eh?"

"Not necessarily, now, but when you were a teenager, you checked it out a few times, right?"

"Uh, well…" Suzaku blushed slightly. "I- how is this relevant?"

"What would you say the most… 'Out There' porn you ever enjoyed was?" Lelouch asked him.

"What's this about?" Suzaku asked.

"When I was fifteen, a friend of mine lent me a DVD." Lelouch told Suzaku. "_Vines, Tentacles and Beauties._" He recalled. "I'll never forget it. It was volume three, and there was a girl, a gorgeous blonde in a wetsuit who went scuba diving." Lelouch smiled bitterly. "And a wild tentacruel stripped her clothes off and raped her with its tentacles. It was clearly faked." Lelouch added, sipping from his drink. "She enjoyed and participated far too much to be non-consensual, and once you've spoken with a rape victim you know the difference."

"What're you getting at?" Suzaku asked.

"In the special features, there was a blooper where she squeezed a tentacle a little too hard and the pokémon let her know by giving her a Poison Sting." Lelouch explained. "She was fine, the tentacruel wasn't angry, it was just letting her know. It left a large gash in her inner thigh, which put production back a few days, which they used to record volume four, starring a different heroine and another pokémon, but examining that body reminded me of that wound."

"You think the killer was acting out a tentacle rape fantasy?" Suzaku asked.

"The wounds that reminded me of that DVD were _inside_ her." Lelouch explained. "As if the tentacles were already inside her when they started attacking, which is worrying because pokémon in the tentacool family can't learn Minimize, and there were no signs of invasive surgery."

"I'm sure Nina will find something out in the Autopsy…" Suzaku sighed. "Look, Lelouch, I know that you knew the victim, but-"

"Huh?" Lelouch asked. "What're you talking about?"

Suzaku tilted his head. "You were school friends; your picture was in her room."

"I've never seen her before in my life." Lelouch told him.

Suzaku's brow furrowed. "But, she had a present for you in her room…"

"What makes you think it's for me?" Lelouch asked.

"It was addressed to Lulu…" Suzaku started as Lelouch sprinted into the building…

Just as the victim's apartment exploded.

* * *

Lelouch formed a psychic barrier around himself to block the falling rubble and glass as flames began to erupt from the apartment. "J-Jim…" an officer gasped. "He WAS IN THERE!"

"Jim Steinman?" Lelouch asked, loading his gun. "Damn, he was three days from retirement, wasn't he?"

Suzaku ran up to Lelouch, his own gun at the ready. "I doubt that there'll be anyone left in there to shoot." Suzaku warned.

"_He _called me Lulu." Lelouch snarled. "I let the chief do it because I owe her, but no-one else dares. Zero calls me Lulu to taunt me."

Red flames rose up around Suzaku as he focused his energy.

"You too?" Lelouch asked him.

"I don't understand it, but you can use pokémon attacks too it appears." Suzaku said, standing aside as people began fleeing the building. "Up the wall?"

"Can you use Rock Climb?" Lelouch asked, pocketing his gun.

"No." Suzaku answered. "I'll take the fire escape, meet you up there."

* * *

Lelouch coughed through the smoke as he climbed into the hole that was once Shirley's bedroom wall, but once he used Defog he could breathe and see clearly.

And he saw the armoured menace standing in the kitchen.

"_**The Black Prince is here and the White Reaper is coming.**_" Zero taunted. "_**How fortunate.**_"

"GET DOWN TO THE GROUND!" Lelouch shouted, aiming his gun carefully. _'Pokémon attacks don't work on that armour of his, so we get to do this the old-fashioned way.'_ "NOW!"

"_**Shirley Fenette's death was not my doing.**_" Zero explained. "_**You know what the real killer is.**_"

"I couldn't care less." Lelouch snarled. "I'm taking you in, now get down to the ground or I'll happily put a bullet through that damned mask of yours."

"_**Oh?**_" Zero taunted. "_**Very well.**_" The armoured man put both hands behind his head. "_**Then I shall show you my true face.**_"

Lelouch aimed his gun carefully; doing all he could not to waste the shot he'd get as Zero slowly removed his mask

To reveal a familiar young man with a double barrelled Geass.

"**Remember me?**" Zero asked, tugging the cloth covering his face. "**I hope you do.**"

"**N-no…**" Lelouch gasped, lowering his gun as his Geass flared up in response to Zero's. "**No, no YOU CAN'T BE!**" he shouted, bringing his gun back to eye level.

The armoured terrorist with Lelouch's face as a teenager laughed. "**Oh, now you know that isn't the case.**" He said with a smile. "**After all, I **_**am**_** you.**"

**BLAM**

The bullet passed through Zero's face as he vanished. "**Wh-wha..?**" Lelouch gasped, falling to his knees, panting for breath. "**Wh- what the hell..?**"

"LELOUCH!"

The detective quickly shut off his Geass and looked up as Suzaku burst into the room. "Everything alright?" Suzaku asked.

"Y-yeah…" Lelouch lied. "It's fine, he wasn't here."

Suzaku raised an eyebrow. "I heard a gunshot…"

"I panicked." Lelouch sighed. "It happens."

Suzaku put an arm around his partner's shoulder. "Come on." He said. "Euphie said that your dad's pulling a barbeque at your house. You could use a few beers."

"Y-yeah…"

* * *

Schneizel and Charles manned the barbeques, both wearing matching 'Kiss the Cook' aprons.

Odysseus lounged by the pool with a wheelchair-bound Red as Cornelia, Marianne, Suzaku and C.C. set the table outside and sorted out the bread, salad, condiments and punch.

Euphie was in the pool, racing Nunnally in various swimming styles; so far the younger girl was thrashing her older sister.

* * *

Lelouch had been in the shower for half an hour, trying to make sense of the day.

'_What… what the hell..?'_

"You're bothered about what you saw at the crime scene." C.C. told him as she closed the bathroom door. "That's unusual for you."

Lelouch turned the handle, shutting the water off. "I'm going mad…" he whispered.

C.C. titled her head. "You mean you weren't already?"

"I'm serious." Lelouch told her. "Listen—"

SMASH

"Brother!" Nunnally shouted, rushing into the bathroom. "They've found another body- ah!"

"What're you talking about Nunnally?" Lelouch asked, wrapping a towel around himself as his sister averted her eyes.

"Um… well… a-a body like the one you investigated earlier has been found." Nunnally said. "They said this time it's a Japanese man from Team Rocket…"

'_What?'_ Lelouch thought, his eyebrows furrowing. _'That reduces the likelihood of a sexual assault.'_

"Tell Suzaku I'll be down once I'm dressed." Lelouch explained. "Did they give us the victim's name?"

"Um… it was Urabe… I think." Nunnally told him. "I'm sorry that you have to go…"

"It's fine." Lelouch said. "Uncle Cyrus is coming over later, so he'll play with you."

"But he's creepy!" Nunnally pouted.

Lelouch smiled, not noticing C.C.'s averted gaze.

Though, even if he did, his mind was elsewhere.

'_What the hell is going on…?'_

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

I'm sure that's what each and every one of you is thinking right now.

Also, this wasn't an epilogue, I was lying. I do that. Remember in Fairly English Story? The times I faked the story ending early just to screw with you? This was just a lame attempt to add to you confusion.

Now, I'm sure everyone is saying **WTF?** to this chapter, and that's good. You're meant to. This arc will be over by the end of the week and is very, **_very_** relevant to the plot, so bear with me.

_**Varanus:**__ If nothing else, Milly's Chiefstache makes it all worthwhile._


	34. I Was Not Wrong

Crap, I forgot it was update day today. Well, only three and a half hours late, hey?

Alright then. Let's laugh at everyone's wrong answers.

NightmareSyndrom, you are _**WRONG!**_

Heraklinos, you are _**WRONG!  
**_Also, technically there are nine alignments. And Sonic Mindscrewdrivers don't need sharpening.

Karasu, trust me when I tell you that this is relevant to the plot. Also, you are _**WRONG!**_

Naru-Chan? Me? Losing my touch? **_WRONG!_**

Anyone else? No? Then lets start pumping out answers.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_I've been having these weird thoughts lately._

_Like… is any of this real? Or not?_

_Why did Zero have my face? How did he disappear?_

_Am I insane? Am I wrong?_

_No… I am not wrong…_

_But… then who is..?_

* * *

"It's similar, isn't it?" Suzaku asked Lelouch at the crime scene.

"Good eye." Lelouch replied. "The burns cover most of his skin, but you can still see the damage done by a tentacled creature. His right arm was violently torn off at the shoulder, as was his left leg at the knee."

"Still, that ruins your theory about the motive of these attacks being sexual." Suzaku added, crouching next to his partner. "Unless there's signs of this corpse being violated too?"

"Another angle could be that the killer is a violent monster that the first victim gave birth to." Lelouch suggests, furrowing his eyebrow. "Impossible as that is, don't forget that you lit this cigarette with blue fire from your thumb."

"True." Suzaku sighed. "Still, you're oddly calm for a possible paranormal case."

"I've seen worse." Lelouch scowled, remembering that time he entered C.C.'s mind. "Let's let the CSI's take a look at him." he yawned, standing up and walking away from the body. "I'm off home. Hopefully there'll still be some meat left."

Suzaku sighed as Lelouch stepped through the yellow tape and flicked his cigarette butt. "Shouldn't you be quitting?" he asked his partner. "What with the baby on the way?"

"I don't smoke around the house." Lelouch pointed out. "Besides, helps me think."

"That's the narcotics talking." Suzaku told him. "You've just associated the calmness of a nicotine fix with being able to think straight."

Lelouch stopped, then became surrounded in a dark mist. "Haze." Lelouch explained, shoving the box of cigarettes into his partner's chest before leaving. "There, happy?"

* * *

"Thanks for looking after him for the week." Cornelia told her sister.

"Oh, not a problem." Euphemia told her sister with a smile, glancing at her sleeping nephew. "Suzaku's going to be busy settling into his new job, so I'll be glad for the company. Besides," Euphie giggled. "Lelouch isn't the easiest person to work with, is he?"

"No, he isn't." Cornelia agreed with a laugh. "Well, I'd best be going. Morty's waiting."

* * *

Lelouch shoved the leftover steak into the microwave to heat up once he got in.

The kitchen was dark and empty, silent except for the hum of the microwave and the drumming of Lelouch's fingers on the worktop.

'_I need a smoke.'_ Lelouch thought. _'No, I don't. Stop lying to me, me.'_

* * *

"_**After all, I AM you!**__"_

* * *

Lelouch grabbed his forehead and grunted. "Bastard…" he hissed.

"What were you saying earlier?"

Lelouch glanced at C.C. who was wearing one of his shirts. "You said you were going mad." She continued, walking up to the table and leaning onto the back of one of the chairs. "Talk to me."

Lelouch sighed. He knew better than to try to hide things from her. "I saw Zero in the burning apartment, but he wasn't there."

"Is that it?" C.C. asked him, her face impassive.

"He also took his mask off."

C.C.'s eyebrows raised and her mouth opened slightly.

"It was me when I was younger." Lelouch sighed. "I fired a shot, but he just vanished. Do you know something about it?" he asked her, noticing that she was glancing away.

"Nothing." C.C. lied with a sigh. "I'm just worried about you…"

The microwave pinged, and Lelouch decided not to press it further.

* * *

_Prince Clovis put the telephone down by his throne. "Are you satisfied?" He asked the man pointing a gun at him._

_"Very." The man stated. "Well done."_

_"And what shall we do now?" Clovis asked. "Sing a few lively ballads, or perhaps a nice game of chess?"_

_"That has a familiar ring." The faceless man replied as the world blacked out as he removed his mask. "Don't you recall?" the man asked the prince. "The two of us used to battle together as boys. Of course," the gunman sneered. "I would always win."_

_"Y-you…" Clovis gasped._

_"It's been a long time, big brother." The gunman chuckled. "The eldest son of the late consort Marianne and seventeenth in line to the imperial throne, Lelouch vi Britannia, at your service."_

_Clovis's horror turned to shock and then to delight. "L-Lelouch-!" The delight turned to terror as he realized the man he was pointing a gun at his head. "B-But I thought—"_

_"That I was dead? You were wrong" gunman paused. "I have returned, Your Highness, and I've come back to change everything."_

_Clovis smiled. "I'm overjoyed, Lelouch!" He declared, standing to his feet. "They say you died once Japan was brought into the fold. What a blessing to have you back, we should depart for the homeland immediately."_

_"So you can use me as a tool of diplomacy." Lelouch sighed, shaking his head. "It seems you forgotten why we were used as tools in the first place."_

_Clovis gasped. "That's right." Lelouch told him. "It was because my mother was killed."_

_Lelouch stepped closer to his half-brother. "Mother held the title of Knight of Honour, but was a commoner by birth. No doubt the other imperial consorts held her in contempt. Even though you made it look like the work of terrorists, I'm no fool!" He shouted. "You people killed my mother!"_

_"It wasn't me!" Clovis protested. "I swear to you it wasn't!"_

_"Then tell me everything you know." Lelouch ordered. "The truth cannot be hidden from me any longer. __**By whose hands was she slain?**__" He demanded, activating his Geass._

_"My brother, Second Prince Schneizel and Second Princess Cornelia." Clovis answered dutifully. "They can tell you."_

_"They were at the heart of this?" Lelouch asked, deactivating his Geass. "That's all that you know, isn't it?"_

_"I swear it wasn't me!" Clovis insisted in fear. "I have… nothing to do with it!"_

_"I believe you." Lelouch responded, lowering his gun. "However…"_

_Lelouch stepped forward and put the gun to his half-brother's forehead. "Please, you can't!" Prince Clovis begged. "We may have different mothers, but you and I are still blood!"_

_Lelouch smiled. "You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty."_

_**BLAM**_

_Blood and grey matter splattered on the wall, and __Clovis fell back into his seat as blood seeped from the bullet hole in his forehead. Lelouch then took some pokéballs from his belt and placed them onto a table, before replacing his helmet and walking away from the murder scene._

* * *

Lelouch sat bolt upright in his bed, before rushing out to vomit in the bathroom sink. _'What..?'_ he asked. _'But… why was the dream from the killers perspective… and why did he think the killer was me..?'_

Lelouch looked up and saw himself sneering maliciously in the mirror, a single Geass blazing. He blinked in shock and saw his normal reflection. "Dammit…" he sighed. "I need help…"

* * *

Lelouch was on time for work the next day, and was sat at his desk for a good hour before Milly saw fit to roar for him.

The detective stood up and smiled pleasantly. "Yes Ma'am!" he called back politely, before walking towards Da Chief's office.

Rivalz dropped his cup of water from the cooler in shock and spilled water all over Kallen.

She didn't even notice she was wet.

"That… was Lelouch, right?"

* * *

"You know, at times like this, I like to consult my coffee for advice." Milly told a bored Lelouch and a nervous Suzaku minutes later. "A fresh cup of coffee and some milk can be very helpful when I'm deciding what to do."

She opened the packet of milk and poured it into the milk, watching it without stirring it. "Did you see that?" she asked the two detectives. "Clear as a fresh spring morning- F.K., in my coffee. Know what that means?" she asked.

"Um, no sir." Suzaku replied as Lelouch yawned.

"IT'S TELLING ME TO FIRE YOUR ASSES FOR BEING SUCH SCREWUPS!" Milly shouted.

"Wouldn't that be F.T.A. for 'Fire Their Asses' at least?" Lelouch asked. "I'm your best detective, and I can't see how you'd get that from milk forming the letter's F and K."

Milly glared at him, and replied by splashing the scalding coffee into his face.

"Anyway, it could be argued that the bomb that destroyed the crime scene wasn't your fault due to the obvious lack of EVIDENCE, but that doesn't give you an excuse to shoot up the place afterwards." Da Chief added, pouring herself some more coffee as Lelouch screamed.

Lelouch pulled a Lava Cookie out of his pocket and bit down into it, thankful of its healing properties as the scalds began to fade. "However, you two are also the most suitable team to investigate the third victim of this case, so the get back to work."

"Third victim?" Suzaku asked. "Who?"

"Kanon Maldini." Milly replied distantly, handing Lelouch the case file. "Schneizel's secretary/bumchum."

"Eh?" Suzaku asked as Lelouch flicked it open. "Wait, Your brother is gay?"

Suzaku was answered by Milly splashing hot coffee into his face. "We do not tolerate homophobia in this office, Kururugi." Da Chief warned him.

"For the record, he's a pansexual." Lelouch sighed, closing the case. "Doesn't care if you're male, female or genderless, as long as you're interesting, you arouse his interest."

"Ah, oh…" Suzaku nodded, ignoring the scalding coffee dripping from his face. "Right, okay…"

* * *

Rivalz and Kallen were still in shock at Lelouch's behavior an hour later as they drove down to the docks.

"I mean… that _was_ Lelouch…" Rivalz asked his partner with uncertainty "...right?"

"I already told you, I don't know!" Kallen snapped.

"Maybe the pressure of the murders on top of the Zero case finally made him snap?" Rivalz pondered. "Or maybe he's just… hello!"

Rivalz pulled the car over by the waterside and got out, eying up some crates marked with the Rocket 'R'. He turned back to Kallen, grinning. "What did I tell you? Anonymous drop off in the morning! And you wanted to wait until nightfall…"

"Hey, we don't have search warrants." Kallen warned him.

Rivalz grinned. "Oh, I know, relax… Oh no, I slipped." He announced, making an exaggerated fake trip-up and lashed out with his bionic arm at one of the crates to steady himself.

THUNK

"Oh no. One of my arm-blades is stuck in this crate." Rivalz said, winking at Kallen. "I hope I don't bust it open as I free myself. That would be bad, but perfectly understandable, wouldn't it?"

"What the hell?" a voice shouted as two Rocket members ran up to the police officers.

"Chiba. Asahina." Rivalz nodded, recognizing the two Rocket henchmen. "Could you guys do me a favour and open up this crate? My hand is stuck, you see…"

"Cut the crap." Chiba snarled.

Kallen stepped in. "Fine, we'll get right to the point. This is a new shipment, right?" she asked. "Open them."

"We have an agreement." Asahina growled. "Back off."

The two sides faced off against each other, neither backing down.

"It's been a while, Kallen." a fifth voice said. They turned to see Toudou approach. "Why is the police taking so much interest in a standard shipment?"

"There's been a pokémon related murder and we're confiscating anything tentacle based until we find the culprit." replied Kallen.

"And you think we did it?" scowled Toudou. "When it was Urabe who was killed?"

Kallen's eyes widened in shock. "Urabe is dead?"

"How do we know it wasn't an internal dispute?" asked Rivalz.

Kallen shook her head. "No… Urabe was loyal…"

Rivalz frowned, and was about to ask how she knew this, but he realised something. "Hey, seriously, could one of you open this crate? My arm actually is stuck…"

In one smooth motion, Toudou drew his katana and split the crate in two, freeing Rivalz and spilling several bound packages on the ground. "Slowpoke Tails. They've become quite the delicacy as of late." the Rocket Admin explained, turning away. "Now, if you are quite done obstructing business, present a warrant or leave."

Rivalz rose to make an argument, but then saw Kallen's troubled face. She turned and headed back for the squad car. "Let's just go."

Rivalz nodded and followed her, making one last motion with his fingers, pointing at his eyes. "I got my eyes on you, Rockets!"

"Reassuring." muttered Toudou, watching them drive off as Chiba and Asahina recovered the spilled Slowpoke Tails.

* * *

"Again, it's similar, yet not the same." Lelouch noted at the crime scene.

"Yeah, the killer seemed to grab the victim's wrist, them pull into a strike to the throat." Suzaku noted, standing up. "Know what else is strange?" he asked.

"No sign of a struggle at any of the crime scenes?" Lelouch asked.

Suzaku nodded. "Even if he victims knew the killer, the pain of the attack would make them scramble, or at least do _something_." He said. "It's as if the corpses were planted in each crime scene."

"Problem is, from the blood splatter and the staining, we know the victims died where we found them." Lelouch sighed with a growl. "The autopsy showed no signs of sedatives or poisons being used on the victim, so they were conscious when they were attacked-"

"Or they were sleeping in unusual spots within their homes or offices." Suzaku suggested.

"Or that." Lelouch nodded. "Problem is, there's no other visible connection between the three victims." He sighed. "Normally, this would be where we start interrogating the families and friends, but apparently there aren't any apart from those that worked with Kanon."

Suzaku sighed, sitting down on a window sill and pulling out a plastic bag from his pocket. "Is it wrong that I can eat at a time like this?" he asked, pulling out the sandwich.

"Depends what you're eating." Lelouch shrugged, glancing at the clock. "I could go for some food. What've you got there?"

"Turkey, Strawberry Jam, and Cereal." Suzaku replied with a smile. "The Sinners Sandwich."

"That's just wrong." Lelouch grimaced. "Euphie make that? She's always been rather inventive with her cooking."

Suzaku was about to defend his girlfriend, but his pokégear started ringing instead. "Hello?" he asked.

_\_ "I-It's Daniel…" _\_ Euphie gasped.

Suzaku stood to his feet. "Calm down." He told her. "What's happened to Daniel."

_\_ "He-he's dead…" _\_ Euphie gasped. _\_ "I-I don't know how, b-but he…" _\_

* * *

"What do you know about the Rockets?" Rivalz asked his partner. Kallen gave him a sideways glare from her seat in the squad car, but he didn't back down. "I'm serious. How can you be so sure they're not behind this?"

"I'm on your side, okay?" Kallen told him angrily. "I'm on your side, and Lelouch's and Da Chief's. Just… trust me."

"I do trust you," Rivalz replied without a moments hesitation. "But if you know something that could help…"

"…I wasn't always…" Kallen muttered. Rivalz frowned at her, and she sighed. "I'm on your side… but I wasn't always. I have my connections with Team Rocket."

Rivalz opened his mouth to reply, but couldn't find the words. "Oh…" was all he could manage.

"Look, Toudou and his four Swords, they're old school." Kallen explained. "Toudou is loyal to Silver, the Swords are loyal to Toudou, and _everybody_ is loyal to the Swords. If it was an internal thing, someone up the ladder would have given us a heads up."

"Could it have been Zero then?" mused Rivalz. "Rumour has it old Lulu went toe-to-toe with him at the first victim's apartment yesterday…"

"Who knows. That man is obsessed…" Kallen yawned, grateful for the change of subject. "Man, I'm tired."

"Lunch?" Rivalz offered.

Kallen smiled. "Well, if you're paying…"

* * *

Suzaku comforted Euphie as Lelouch investigated the murder scene of his nephew- Cornelia's son.

'_How am I able to keep a clear head at a time like this…?'_ Lelouch asked himself as he examined the body. _'This is my own flesh-and-blood practically, and I'm investigating this like it's any other crime scene- not even the death of a little boy…'_

Lelouch shook his head. _'Focus on the scene, like you were earlier…'_

He stood up and looked around the room. Near the door was a spilt bowl of cereal on a tray- Euphie had been bringing him breakfast in bed at the time.

There was a notebook on the table with bloodstains on it. _'A note from the killer..?'_

Lelouch walked over and examined it. _'No, this is Euphie's handwriting… Nunnally mentioned she was writing a book or something…'_

Lelouch picked up the page and began reading.

* * *

_Long long ago, there was a monster without a heart._

_It looked with jealousy at the other monsters, and envied their hearts, and the love the humans had for those monsters with hearts._

_"If only I had a heart." the monster thought, "Then I too would be loved like the others."_

_So the monster came down from the sky, and it set out on a journey to take a heart._

_It split into two, in search for a heart._

_One half of the monster went far away, to strange lands in order to search for a heart._

_But the other half of the monster found a beautiful young lady, who took the monster lovingly and gave it a name._

_She raised the monster like her own child- giving it support, cherishing it, disciplining it when it did wrong, helping it make friends._

_The monster was happy._

_One day, the monster saw some strange men. They wanted to hurt the young lady._

_The monster didn't like that. These men had hearts, and they refused to love the lady like the lady loved the monster._

_The monster grew angry, and it took the hearts from the evil men._

_The lady screamed._

_She screamed in terror at the monster she had raised, beating it with sticks and ordering the monster to leave._

_The monster took her heart too._

_The monster went out into the village, and its friends turned against it too._

_The monster took their hearts too._

_Soon, the monster had many hearts, but it was all alone._

_One day, it met with the other half of the monster. "Did you find your heart?" the monster that stayed asked. "I found many hearts. Look at all the hearts that I have."_

_"I did not find a heart." The monster that left said. "But I found something better. I found that I was happy without a heart."_

_"But you need a heart to be happy." The monster that stayed said. "Happiness comes from the heart."_

_"Love comes from the heart, but Happiness is in the mind." The monster that left told it. "I realised that I could be happy as a heartless monster, and that's what I became. I am happy with what I am; I do not need a heart."_

_The monster that stayed grew angry, and took the brain from the monster that left._

_Then the monster that stayed realised._

_A heart that is all alone is nothing but a heart of pain._

_In fact, life as a heartless monster was happier, much happier, than that of a monster with many hearts._

* * *

Lelouch dropped the notepad and stepped backwards, clutching his head.

He'd never, ever read that passage before.

No, no he had never read that before.

But he'd read something like it.

'_Where… where…?'_

* * *

"Mirage Island…" Lelouch whispered, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and twirling it between his fingers.

'_I remember. I was there with Euphie… and there were those metal tablets with Braille… why…?'_

"How're we doing?" Suzaku asked.

Lelouch caught the cigarette in his hand. "I'm too emotionally involved in this case." Lelouch said. "I'm stepping down."

"Wait, WHAT?" Suzaku shouted, grabbing Lelouch by the scruff of his neck. "You're the best damned detective on the force and _you're leaving?_"

"I haven't been able to think straight since last night." Lelouch told him. "And the way you are, you'll jump on the first suspect I come up with, you'll be convinced he did it."

Suzaku snarled at him, then dropped his partner. "Dammit…" he growled. "One day." He said. "We take the rest of the day off, come back with clear heads, alright?"

Lelouch nodded. "Get Rivalz and Kallen on the case." He said. "Help Euphie, Cornelia and Morty—".

'_The child has black hair.'_

Lelouch squatted near the corpse. _'Cornelia inherited her purple hair from her mother, and carries Father's recessive gene for brown hair… Morty's family are all blondes… so if neither of them carry the gene for black hair…'_

"Lelouch?" Suzaku asked.

"Daniel was adopted, wasn't he?" Lelouch asked. "Because I don't remember Cornelia ever being pregnant."

"Y-yeah…" Euphie managed. "He's an orphan from a London orphanage…"

'_That used to be our capital city, until we moved to Pendragon city in Arizona…'_ Lelouch remembered, clutching his forehead. _'But… Dad's the Governor of Zero City… not the Emperor of Britannia…'_

'_Wait… who is?'_ Lelouch asked, before realising.

'_Charles Zi Britannia… it's kinda in the name…'_

"I need to go." Lelouch told his partner, rising to his feet. "I've gotta clear my head."

"I don't blame you." Suzaku sighed, leading Euphie away from the gruesome scene as Lelouch got his head together.

* * *

Lelouch drove absently through the city, actually closing his eyes to drive on autopilot more than once.

To his surprise, autopilot didn't lead him somewhere he normally goes.

So when Lelouch went into the shady backstreet black market store, he ignored the shop keeper who told him that his kind wasn't welcome here, choosing instead to light up a cigarette to help him think.

A cigarette that was put out by a sandshrew's sand attack to his face.

"Like I said, pig." The shopkeeper warned. "Your kind is not needed in here."

"Erebus." Lelouch replied, dropping a Dark Ball on the ground to release the arbok within to smash the sandshrew to the ground. "Now…" Lelouch growled, the arbok transforming into a dark fox demon with a red mane and slamming the shopkeeper into the wall. "**I suggest opening the secret door you have under the tatami mats so I can enter the secret compartment.**"

"Wh-what secret compartment..?" the shopkeeper asked.

'_What?'_ Lelouch thought with panic. _'But, I've never seen this guy, much less Geass him into giving me a snag arm-'_

'_Yes I have.'_ Lelouch remembered. _'Why else would I be so specific in my denial.' _

"You hold a large sum of illegal pokémon theft tools." Lelouch told him. "I am not here for those, but if you continue to resist then I will be back with a team and a warrant, and we _will_ find them, and I won't be able to cover you then."

The man thought about it. He really did.

"Forget it man." The shopkeeper insisted. "More than my life's worth."

Lelouch nodded, recalling his zoroark. "I see." He said as the shopkeeper fell to the floor. "**What about your eternity..?**"

The man gaped as the room was consumed by blackness, and a hundred crazed eyes widened in the blackness, and a hundred more mouths grinned in the shadows.

The man looked down as flat, childlike hands crawled up his face and began scratching his skin. "O-OKAY I'LL TALK!"

The room faded back to normal as the shadows retreated, Lelouch grinning as the man jumped up and rushed to open the trap door. _'Nightmare.' _Lelouch thought to himself gleefully._ 'It never fails.' _

* * *

"Senba-san? You in there?" Asahina called, banging on the old soldier's door. "Senba-san, open up!"

He tapped at the keypad of the door, which said the room was locked from within. Asahina sighed, realising Senba had fallen asleep again. The poor guy was getting old…

"Senba-san, I'm coming in." Asahina announced, swiping the Rocket override card on the door's panel. "We had a run in with the cops. Toudou-san wants us to assemble…"

He froze, the sight and stench of blood washing over him. "…Shit."

* * *

Lelouch didn't know what to expect down below. Guns, the Zero Cave, a robot zombie army, _anything_ other than this.

Not a secret underground chasm bathed in red light as Groudon and Kyogre swam in a giant psychic cauldron of water and lava, mixing continually in chaotic equilibrium.

"Gaia's Vengeance…" Lelouch gasped, remembering the name of the system he designed. "So… mewtwo's…"

_**Something is wrong in the world**_

Lelouch turned around to see the dark monster of hate standing behind him.

He wasn't afraid.

"Hello Vengeance." Lelouch told his brother's mewtwo. "What's wrong in the world?"

_**The monster of many hearts has consumed the monster without a heart**_

Lelouch grabbed mewtwo's slender throat violently. "**What. Does. That. Mean. Mewtwo?**" he demanded, darkness coursing down his arm into mewtwo's throat.

_**You brother would be angered if you so foolishly committed suicide, human**_

Lelouch let go of Vengeance's throat, remembering how powerful the beast he was threatening was. "Sorry. Can I have an answer now?" Lelouch asked.

_**I know not the name you gave the monster who stole hearts, nor the monster without a heart**_

"Let me ask you this." Lelouch sighed. "Is Deoxys involved in this?"

_**We you not listening to me?**_

"No, I apologise." Lelouch replied with a sigh. "So, can you at least tell me what is real in this world?"

_**Names, Faces and Lies**_

"Thank you." Lelouch nodded. "May I ask why you're being so helpful?"

_**You have one week to remember the truth. Then, you can take more truth from the lies of others**_

"Good thing I was a trained detective amongst these lies." Lelouch sighed. "Is there anyone else who remembers?"

_**Yes**_

"No names though, right?"

Mewtwo simply walked away.

Lelouch needed a coffee.

* * *

He sat is his car for a few hours, sipping his drink and going over the Zero case file.

He remembered these events. He remembered planning them, he remembered carrying them out.

'_Rivalz and Kallen were members of the Black Knights…'_ Lelouch thought. _'And Suzaku is my enemy in the real world…'_

The more he remembered of that dreamlike past, the more the dark thoughts surfaced, threatening to overwhelm him.

It was clear to him now that by remembering, he had to choose between this world and that darker, blood drenched existence.

'_Do I want to remember?'_ Lelouch thought. _'I was a horrible person, a terrorist, a murderer…'_

'_Shirley forgave me… Shirley…' _

'_Mao.'_

Lelouch glared into the mirror as his Geass flared against the memory of the psychopath, but dropped it as his pokévice began ringing.

He picked it up. "Hello?" he asked.

_\_ "When are you coming home?" _\_ C.C. asked.

Lelouch glanced at the clock and swore. "Sorry." He apologised. "I'll be right there. Want me to pick up a pizza on the way?"

_\_ "You know what I like." _\_ C.C. smiled, hanging up on him.

He hung up and sighed. _'And why exactly is C.C. playing the role of housewife?' _he wondered. _'Not really what I'd expect from that witch…'_

Putting the thought at the back of his mind, he shoved the files into the dashboard before stepping out of the car and walking into Dominos Pizza._'It's not like Pizza Hut is the only place in the world.'_ He reasoned.

* * *

Of course, the way C.C. treat him afterwards for committing the crime of treason, Lelouch wished it was.

It didn't matter that he got it home in five minutes or less, thanks to the wonders of Teleportation, the fact that he betrayed Pizza Hut for their arch nemesis.

So Lelouch had to think quickly.

"You know, I'm thinking of taking next week off." Lelouch told C.C. "It's been a while since we last went to Hoenn."

"Lelouch." C.C. stated. "Are you trying to comfort me, pity me, or win me back?"

* * *

"_Mao. You lose. In every sense of the word."_

* * *

"All wrong." Lelouch replied. "It's my offer. A contract between us, this time from me, to you."

C.C. glanced at Lelouch suspiciously. "Odd way of phrasing something."

"Oh, it's just that last time you asked me that question, I was carrying you away from the bloodbath that was Mao."

C.C.'s eye's widened. "Come to think of things, there are a lot of things that don't match up." Lelouch said. "Like, how my father has the name of the largest empire in the world yet we aren't royalty, and how-"

"Lelouch." C.C. stated harshly, placing her pizza slice onto the work surface. "I'm sure you're just tired and not thinking straight."

"**I think that you know what's going on.**" Lelouch replied as C.C. glared at the kitchen worktop. "**Tell me-**"

He was interrupted by a slice of pizza to the face. "Just… don't." C.C. begged. "Please."

Lelouch looked at his wife, then sighed. "Alright." He replied. "Will you at least give me the dignity of answering one question?"

C.C. folded her arms and looked at the wall.

"You know that we won't be going to Hoenn next week, don't you."

It wasn't a question.

C.C.'s eyes widened in shock as she recoiled visibly.

'_I knew it.'_ Lelouch thought, slumping back into the couch.

She ignored her pizza and ran upstairs.

Lelouch sighed.

* * *

He knew better than to go upstairs when C.C. was like that, so instead he got thinking.

'_C.C. knows that this world only lasts for a week. She also doesn't want me knowing this, and it hurt her a lot when it I told her I did.'_

'_Nothing hurts her. The closest I've seen her to hurt was when I entered her memories. She always hides her feelings by holding Jiro-'_

'_Where is Jiro?'_

'_It's a wish granting pokémon- able to grant a week of someone's wish once every thousand years when the millennium comet passes over the earth…'_

'_C.C.'s at least seven hundred years, from that time I entered her memories.'_ Lelouch realised. _'She's had that jirachi with her for at least five hundred.'_

'_Has she been keeping that jirachi with her all this time for one wish?'_

'_What wish could be worth waiting all that time for? What could she wish for that would change the world like this?'_

'_Oh.'_

* * *

Lelouch ran upstairs into the bedroom and dive-bombed into C.C. "Lelouch!" she shouted in shock.

"I'm sorry…" he apologized, holding her close. "I'm sorry…"

"You're… remembering… aren't you..?" C.C. asked him.

Lelouch looked down. "Some things." He replied. "I don't know why I'd ever become Zero, but I'm sure it must've been a good reason- what does Nunnally have to do with any of this?"

C.C. sighed. "Do you want me to tell you?" she asked him.

"No…" Lelouch smiled back. "I'll figure it out myself." He pulled her back into the hug. "I love you. You do know that, right?"

C.C. was shocked, then closed her eyes with a smile "Of course." She lied. "Of course I do."

* * *

_\_ "We've found more bodies." _\_ Suzaku told Lelouch the next day as he was having his breakfast.

"Senba Ryoga is one of them, right?" Lelouch asked. "Old Japanese man, has a tumor or something on his forehead?"

_\_ "How'd you know?" _\_ Suzaku asked him.

Lelouch smirked as he sipped his coffee. "Call it my Detective's intuition coming back." He told him. "See you at the office." He added, hanging up.

'_I remember.'_ Lelouch told himself. _'I wasn't the one who was wrong.'_

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Next chapter, we're back in business, and it all comes together.

However, it's the last month of school, we're working hard on coursework, and I've almost run out of buffer, so next week, updates will be irregular unless I take another level in badass. Wish me luck.


	35. Heartless Monster

And now, the monster parable shall be explained. Hopefully. To an extent.

Heraklinos, way off.

DeviateFish, exactly the reaction I was hoping for.

NightmareSyndrom, good guesses, all wrong.

Karasu, better guesses, all right.

WakingWorldDreamWorld, Haven't seen that film yet. I want to though.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_That was the turning point. Since that day, I've lived a lie: The lie of living. My name, too, was a lie. My personal history, a lie. Nothing but lies. I was sick to death of a world that couldn't be changed. But even in my lies, I refused to give up in despair. But now, this incredible power, it's mine…_

_Ever since that day, I suppose I've been craving destruction and chaos. Yes, before creation there must first come destruction. If my soul stands in my way, then I shall toss it aside. Yes, for I have no choice but to move forward…_

_From that day on, I was never satisfied in my heart. The fabricated life that didn't make any sense. The time that slipped by. A life of a mareep given false memories. However, the truth unconsciously beckoned me…_

* * *

Lelouch spent the day investigating, but not just the false 'case' he was working on with Suzaku, but all the people in this false world.

He had realised the truth, as impossible as it had first seemed. The whole world was just a fabrication- a simulacrum of reality, yet everyone in it was real, but with their memories altered.

'_The only exceptions are C.C. and I.'_ Lelouch thought on the drive home. _'Of course, I have to play my role of the ace detective when I'm home with her.'_

'_Still, Seven hundred years and this is what she wishes for?'_ Lelouch thought. _'Of course, judging from the time limit on the wish, I'm guessing that whatever she wished for would vanish after the week was up, so she couldn't have wished for anything that would last, and there was no way that she'd waste her wish on a mortal like me.'_

'_No, the important thing here is to investigate why I am like Suzaku right now, what are my limits, and more importantly, father and mother. Everyone else in this dream world that exists is _alive_, so why is mother here?'_

'_The answer's obvious. Because mother's death was staged.'_

Lelouch scowled. _'No, that can't be it. I saw her DIE!'_

'_Of course, she was also C.C.'s friend, and father was friends with this 'Cyrus' person, so there's no way to tell that she didn't have the Geass, or may even by immortal like C.C..'_

'_Wait… if Dream Ashford was immortal like the real Ashford, then his wounds would have healed already, wouldn't they?'_ Lelouch realised. _'Yet, they haven't…'_

Lelouch opened his pokénav and called C.C. "Hey." He told her.

_\_ "Hey." _\_ C.C. replied.

"Just to let you know, I'm going into the hospital to visit Ash on the way home." Lelouch told C.C. "I'll bring home the _right_ Pizza this time."

* * *

Lelouch tossed a box of Thornton's chocolates onto his crippled brother's torso. "Hey stupid." Lelouch taunted, walking into the private hospital room. "How're they treating you?"

"Very nice." Ash smiled. "You do know that I can't move my arms, right?"

Lelouch smiled back and opened the box with telekinesis and lifted a chocolate into the air. "So I'm supposed to feed you, is that it?" Lelouch asked.

"Ah ha." Ash nodded, mouth wide open to receive what Lelouch decided to float into his own mouth. "Douche!" the younger brother shouted.

"Have one of the nurses feed you." Lelouch smirked, chewing on the toffee. "So what're you still doing in here?"

"Because unlike you, I can't use Recover." Ash scowled.

Lelouch was surprised, but he had accepted this as a possible outcome after seeing that Ash wasn't surprised by his telekinesis. "Hey, you remember when we became like this?" Lelouch asked him.

"Yeah." Ash nodded. "We were Codes like Auntie C.C., and we found Mew…" he shook his head. "It was in Mount Coronet, wasn't it?"

"Palkia and Dialga had gone on a rampage, hadn't they?" Lelouch guessed.

"Yeah, good times." Ash laughed, his mind filling in the blank created by Lelouch's question.

'_I don't want him remembering the truth just yet.'_ Lelouch thought. _'I need more information.'_ "Suzaku's like us too." Lelouch told his brother. "Don't think he met Mew though."

"Nah, but I think one of his great-grandparents or something did." Ash sighed. "He's a Fighting and Dragon type, you realise that yet?"

"No I didn't." Lelouch admitted. "Didn't think of that until now."

'_So we have types?'_ Lelouch asked internally. _'And we can use pokémon attacks and restorative items… though clearly not to the same extent as pokémon can or else Ashford would be out of the hospital by now… it's almost as if we are pokémon…'_

'_What if the whole point of becoming immortal- no, becoming a __Code- was turning into a pokémon? And what does Mew have to do with it?__'_ Lelouch thought. _'But, __ why are we no longer Codes… what's more, how does one become a Code in the first place?'_

'_Ashford became one during the battle in China, around the time of his death- or at the time of his death. So, if a Geass user dies-'_

'_No, that can't be it.'_ Lelouch thought to himself. _'If so, Mao would still be alive… but if it's related to the Geass, which it must be, then the opportunity for becoming a Code __must be beyond what Mao achieved. Most likely__ after one learns to regain control of their Geass, like Ashford did during the SAZ.'_

'_So once one learns how to turn their Geass on and off at will, then one becomes a Code upon their death?' _Lelouch thought to himself. _'And once one becomes a Code and finds Mew, then one becomes a pokémon?'_

'_This is still just a theory.'_ Lelouch sighed, shaking his head. _'But it's a good one.'_

He got to his feet. "Anyway, I'd best be going." Lelouch told his brother. "C.C.'s waiting for me."

Ashford shook his head. "Mate, I still can't believe you married someone thirty-five times your age." He groaned.

Lelouch laughed. "I happen to like mature women." He joked. "This is why she married me and not you."

Ash just grumbled and called for a nurse as Lelouch left.

* * *

"You did this to piss me off, didn't you?" C.C. asked our hero, glaring at the Meateor Pizza the traitor brought back from Dominos Pizza.

"It's good to have variety in your diet." Lelouch joked, picking up a slice of pizza. He was in a good mood.

C.C. glared at him before tossing a Shadow Ball into his face, knocking him off the table. "Witch." Lelouch smirked, getting to his feet and throwing a Shadow Ball back at his wife.

It dissipated the moment it touched her. "Pathetic." She smirked, throwing another blob of darkness at Lelouch.

He ducked under the table. _'A Normal and a Ghost type?'_ Lelouch asked himself. _'An odd type match-up, but so is Fighting and Dragon. I know I'm the Psychic type, but do I have a second element too?'_

He looked down at his hand as black flames formed into the shape of claw. _'Night Slash… am I a Dark and Psychic type?'_

Lelouch closed his hand to end the attack, before getting up and returning fire with a Psybeam. _'Dark is super-effective against Ghost, so best use Psychic attacks so she doesn't get too hurt-'_

His thoughts were interrupted as he got hit in the face by simultaneous fire, electric and ice attacks- a Tri Attack. "Dammit witch." Lelouch growled as C.C. smirked.

"Come on then boy." She taunted. "Can't even take on a pregnant woman?"

The pizza was forgotten, left to go cold.

* * *

'_Another thing.'_ Lelouch thought later that evening as C.C. slept beside him. _'Why are all the people killed by Deoxys showing up as murder victims?'_ Lelouch thought. _'And even so, why isn't Shirley walking around despite having been killed?'_

'_Where are all the Deoxys?'_ Lelouch asked. _'Are they causing this? Or have some other role to play in this dream world?'_

* * *

The next day, Lelouch spent some time with his sister. It was such a good feeling to see her walking with both eyes open, even if she was slightly more spoiled than Lelouch remembered.

'_Of course she is.'_ Lelouch smiled to himself. _'She didn't have to go through _that_ here. She deserves to be more spoiled.'_

Unfortunately, Da Chief caught him as he was treating his sister to Ice Cream and dragged him back to the station for a good chewing out, during which Lelouch tore off her moustache.

She punched him in the face.

"ANYWAYS~!" Milly sang, reapplying the faux moustache onto her face. "You're on a serial murder case! Get back out there!"

"Yes oh lord and master." Lelouch sighed with a smile as he walked out of her office, only to get dragged back in by the scruff of his neck.

"Don't get funny with me Lulu." Milly hissed. "Solve the damned case."

'_You wouldn't believe me if I did, President.'_ Lelouch thought.

* * *

Lelouch didn't go out to meet his partner afterwards, however.

He decided to pay a visit to his father.

"Rrrrreeellouche!" Charles Zi Britannia greeted with open arms as Lelouch closed the thick oak doors of his father's office behind him. "To What Do I Owe The Pleasure-"

**BLAM**

The joy on Charles face turned to an angry scowl as the bullet hole in his skull closed up. "Explain Yourself Boy." He demanded.

"Heal Block." Lelouch cast on his father, before firing a bullet between the man's kneecaps. "That should stop you healing for the time being." He stated. "Now, **Answer my questions.**"

"Yes My Son." Charles replied obediently.

"**What is your true name and title?**" Lelouch asked him.

"Charles Zi Britannia, 98th Emperor Of Britannia." Charles answered, confirming Lelouch's hunch that people could answer questions of the real world whilst under the influence of his Geass. They could lie to themselves, but no one could lie to his Geass.

"**Who was behind mother's murder?**" Lelouch asked him.

"My Brother Cyrus." Charles responded.

"**What was his motive?**"

"He Deemed Her As An Emotional Obstacle In My Rise To Become A Code And Accomplish Our Goals."

"**What goals?**" Lelouch asked. "**World conquest?**"

"Conquest Was Merely A Means To An End." Charles replied obediently. "Our True Goal Is To Summon Zero."

"**The terrorist?**" Lelouch asked.

"The True Zero."

"**Explain.**" Lelouch ordered.

"Zero Is The True God Of This World." Charles answered. "He Is Nothing And Everything."

Lelouch decided to drop the matter for now. "**Did mother survive the assassination?**"

"Yes."

"**How?**"

"She Used Her Geass To Transfer Her Psyche Into A Suitable Host."

"**Who? Nunnally?**"

"No." Charles replied. "It Was The Young Girl Who Was Studying Steel Type Pokémon As Marianne's Apprentice, Jasmine Of Olivine."

'_Jasmine?'_ Lelouch asked. "**Does Mother Know Of Your Plans?**"

"She Is My Partner In All Things Lelouch." Charles told his son. "This Is Why Cyrus Wanted Her Dead."

'_So mother is my enemy…'_ Lelouch scowled. "**If you are a Code, then why does my Geass work on you?**" he asked, wondering why he didn't ask himself this earlier.

"I Do Not Know." Charles replied.

"**What do you know about the stage above Code?**" Lelouch asked.

"I Know Not Of Such A Thing."

Lelouch smirked. "**Do you know why the Knight of Five is capable of pokémon attacks?**"

"No." Charles answered. "Each Knight Has Their Own Skills. I Buy Those Skills With Rank And Power. I Have No Need To Understand Them."

"**I see.**" Lelouch nodded. "**What do you know of the monster who stole hearts and the heartless monster?**"

"A Fable Euphemia Is Writing." Charles explained.

"**What of a relationship between Jirachi and Deoxys?**" Lelouch asked.

"I Know Not Of Such A Thing."

"**How do you kill a Code?**"

"I Know Not Of Such A Thing."

"**Do you consider yourself to be a good parent to Nunnally and I?**"

"Yes."

**BLAM**

"**WELL YOU'RE NOT!**" Lelouch shouted as his father roared in pain. "**YOU-!**"

Lelouch took a deep breath, realising that his anger had clouded his mind and broken his visual connection of the Geass. "**You are the worst parent, no, the worst _being_ I have ever known.**" Lelouch told him with a glare, daring his father to use his Geass on him. "**You can just die.**"

"**Do You Expect Me To Comply With Your Wishes?**" Charles Zi Britannia boomed, forcing himself into a sitting position. "**Do Not Be Arrogant, Boy.**"

**BLAM**

"**No, I don't.**" Lelouch told his father. "**I expect you to be silenced for the rest of this dream.**"

"**You Cannot Kill Me Boy.**" Charles boomed.

"**I can kill Mother.**"

Charles froze. "**You Wouldn't Dare.**" He snarled.

"**I Would.**" Lelouch told him. "**I can trap you here, not for long, but long enough for me to go to mother, prevent her from using her Geass, and kill her. I'm sure that her death in this world would mean her death in the real world.**" Lelouch glared. "**That is my bargain. After the dream, you can take her somewhere I cannot harm her, but until then you shall not hinder my plans or I will kill her.**"

"**And you're going to do it.**" Lelouch added. "**Because you're an insane, heartless bastard with a twisted concept of love, but you care for her too much for her to die. The only reason you haven't executed Cyrus for trying is because you don't know how to kill a Code, but I do.**" He warned. "**It is difficult, and I cannot do it on this dream world, but I can do it, because I am not you.**"

Lelouch gave his father a paralysing Glare, trapping him further with a Mean Look. "**Submit yourself unto me.**" Lelouch warned, stepping out of the soundproofed office and leaving his father there to bleed. "**Or Suffer the consequences.**"

* * *

After that, Lelouch want into his father's house. "Lelouch!" Marianne smiled. "What a surprise!"

"How's Cornelia?" Lelouch asked.

"She's holding up." Marianne sighed. "She's with Euphie right now."

Lelouch nodded, then looked his mother in the eye.

"**Answer me this: Why did you allow Father to abandon us in Japan?**" Lelouch asked, his Geass compelling her to answer.

"It was to remove you from harms way," Marianne replied with a smile. "We knew you and Nunally would most likely be targeted by Cyrus next."

"**Even though you knew Japan would become a warzone?**" Lelouch demanded, outraged. "**Even though you knew you would be condemning your own children to an early grave regardless?**"

"Things were at a delicate stage at that point, so Japan was the best choice." his mother replied. "All we needed was a few months, after which it wasn't an issue. Once Charles and I complete our plan, things like that won't have mattered. Besides, in the end you were fine, weren't you?"

Lelouch's face twisted into a snarl. "**'In the end'? In the end, it was just pragmatism on your part? WE WERE YOUR CHILDREN! But in the end, accomplishing your own goals stood above your own duties as a parent?**"

Marianne tilted her head to the side. "It was to make the world right. Isn't it the same for you?"

"**Not even I'm that cold, though I do now realise who I got it from.**" Lelouc snarled, fighting the urge to look away in disgust.

He settled for sighing with dissapointemnt. "**But in the vein of pragmatism, I'm sure you'd appreciate the order I shall place upon you, dear mother.**** Never use your Geass again.**" He ordered her.

"Alright." She nodded.

"**Once this dream world ends, go to father and tell him that I declare war.**" Lelouch almost hesitated, but continued. He knew his path was already chosen. "**Once you have done this… Kill yourself in front of him.**"

"Of course honey." Marianne responded as Lelouch broke his Geass off. "Anything else?"

Lelouch sniffed. "Are you baking brownies?" he asked his mother.

"You have a good nose." she smiled. "They won't be ready for another few minutes though. Would you like a drink?"

"Coffee please, I'm driving."

* * *

Lelouch spent the next few hours writing up the case report for Milly to avoid any unwanted suspicion, then went home to find that C.C. had cooked pasta.

For all his brilliance on the battlefield or in the boardroom, Lelouch never could have predicted that.

* * *

The next day, Friday, it rained.

Except the rain did not fall.

It just stayed motionless in the air.

Lelouch stepped outside to find a man with a gaunt face and blue hair standing in the middle of the road. "**Lelouch.**" The man stated. "**To have awoken from this dream world, you truly are my nephew.**"

"**You must be Cyrus.**" Lelouch growled, activating his Geass in response to his. "**I've heard all about you.**"

"**You claim to know how to kill a Code.**" Cyrus stated. "**How?**"

Lelouch laughed. "**Remove their immortality.**" He said. "**My turn to ask a question.**"

"**Very Well.**" Cyrus stated.

"**Your Geass is not merely stopping perception of time, or the rain would still fall.**" Lelouch stated. "**Geass cannot affect the physical world, only peoples minds, so this is a dream within a dream.**" He glared at Cyrus with a smirk. "**Are any of these statements incorrect?**"

"**The second and the third.**" Cyrus replied. "**How can your Geass affect my brother, who is a code?**"

"**I do not know.**" Lelouch replied. "**I suspect it is because I have advanced beyond a Code.**"

Cyrus glared. "**There is no stage above a Code.**"

Lelouch tutted. "**It's my turn to ask a question.**" He taunted. "**Regardless of the nature of your Geass, you are a both a Code and capable of using your Geass, am I correct?**"

"**Yes.**" Cyrus answered. "**What evidence do you have that there lies a stage above a Code?**"

Lelouch answered by levitating a car with his mind and tossing it into another. "**That is my evidence.**" Lelouch said with a smirk. "**You encountered each of your Geass Runaways during a personal crisis, correct?**"

"**Correct.**" Cyrus answered. "**How did you do that?**"

"**Because I have advanced beyond a Code.**" Lelouch smirked. "**Why did you kidnap Nunnally?**"

"**To bring you to Mirage Island.**" Cyrus answered. "**How did you advance beyond a Code?**"

"**I don't know yet.**" Lelouch shrugged. "**How many Codes are there?**"

"**Four.**" Cyrus replied. "**What is your goal? Your mother is alive and your sister doesn't want you to hurt people.**"

"**Why?**" Lelouch asked. "**Because his world is wrong, and I am right. Where is the Geass Order's current headquarters?**"

"**The Ruins of Alph.**" Cyrus stated. "**What drives you to do that which you do?**"

"**Pride.**" Lelouch stated. "**Why are we playing this game, Cyrus?**"

Cyrus glared. "**Impudent child.**" He sighed, turning to leave. "**I will leave you be, boy.**"

Lelouch smirked as the rain began to fall. _'So that's his Geass.'_ He realised with a smirk. _'That's actually rather pathetic.'_

With that, he turned around and walked back inside the house.

Just as the S.W.A.T. Team pulled up in the driveway.

* * *

Lelouch sighed as he pulled his fingers out of the blinds. "Why do the bad things always happen to me?" Lelouch asked himself as C.C. walked down the stairs. "C.C., go back upstairs-"

She was visibly shaken. _'Shit.'_ Lelouch realised. _'This has happened before. This was supposed to be a safe world for her.'_

'_This was not supposed to happen.'_

The sunlight coming through the window turned red, and Lelouch could tell what was happening as the masked policemen burst through the front door.

Lelouch held out a hand as they prepared to fire. "**Die.**" He commanded, unleashing a powerful Dark Pulse upon them, launching them into the garden. "**Ryujin!**"

The beast of the storm crashed through the wall, demolishing the living room from behind as more men came through the door. "**Go.**" Lelouch commanded C.C. as he helped her onto the dragon. "**I'll come after you.**"

The lugia launched a powerful Aeroblast onto the squad, obliterating them. "**Everything will be fine.**" Lelouch told her. "**That is ****a promise, as part of our ****contract.**"

C.C. quietly nodded as Lugia rose into the skies and fled the city as Lelouch pulled the knot of his tie down his neck. "**Now then…**" he smiled as he walked out into the red skies as it began to rain blood. "**Let us move forward…**"

* * *

From the red sky, meteors began to fall, glowing with a familiar, sinister energy.

Rather than be fearful, Lelouch had an epiphany. _'Of course… Jirachi… the meteor… the Deoxys… why didn't I see the connection before?'_

He walked out into the city as people began clutching their heads, screaming as they exploded into light and were replaced by hordes of Deoxys. Occasionally a tendril would grasp hold of Lelouch, but all he had to do was will them to burn and his powers killed them with ease.

'_These aren't the killing machines Britannia built.'_ Lelouch smirked to himself as he smote down another monster. _'These are wild, unorganised, unthinking animals, unwittingly coming for their own doom.'_

Two great beasts, a slender, white monster and a bulky, black behemoth duelled for dominance above the blood-red sky, their power rendering the world asunder as deoxys swarmed to devour anything remaining on the surface.

The two beasts roared, and a titan, dark webbed hand of stone smashed down on the world as a great, white beautiful wing of fur swept across the sky, destroying the simulacrum. Lelouch could see scars in the world where reality- the world outside of this dream- was showing through.

Lelouch glared at the red sky. "**JIRACHI!**" he ordered as the world began to crumble around him. "**COME!**"

The sky began to fall- a great crimson orb of death to crush Lelouch in anger.

Lelouch glared at the Doom Desire, and faded into oblivion.

* * *

He reappeared in a dark dungeon on silver flames. "**Shadow Force.**" Lelouch stated. "**Yes, I know that this is Giratina's ability, but I thought, why not?**"

Jirachi turned around to face him. The pouch on his belly had opened up into a large demonic eye, and green marks could be seen under his eyes.

Jiro was in pain.

"**In all your years, this has never happened.**" Lelouch told the Jirachi. "**Never before have there been so many Deoxys powering the wish. Never before have there been Deoxys you couldn't control. And there has never, ever, ever been a puppet that woke up during the dream, am I correct?**"

The jirachi simply stared at Lelouch. "Chi." it replied.

Lelouch smiled smugly. "**And it hurts.**" He said. "**All you want is to give a nice dream to the nice lady, and it's gone wrong. Oh so very wrong because of the Deoxys.**"

"Jira." Jirachi said. "Jira rachi."

"**I know.**" Lelouch nodded. "**But your wishes, your dreams, they are so ephemeral, aren't they?**" he asked. "**You can't do anything that lasts forever, can you?**"

"Jirachi jira." Jirachi said. "Rachi rachi jira."

Lelouch laughed "**If only you had a heart.**" Lelouch paraphrased from Euphies story. "**Then you too would be loved by the others.**"

Jirachi looked at him in shock as Lelouch crouched in front of him. "**Did you find your heart?**" Lelouch asked him. "**Look at all the hearts you've gathered in this sweet dream. Look at all the people you've made happy.**"

"J-JIRA!" Jirachi begged, covering its head with its hands.

"**But me?**" Lelouch asked. "**I'm happy without a heart. I know what I am.**"

Jirachi stopped still. "**So now, you have a choice.**" Lelouch told the Jirachi. "**My wish is simple. I want you to answer my questions. Grant my wish, and I can make a world where everyone is happy. You wouldn't have to steal hearts anymore. You could just tell me.**"

"Jira…"

Lelouch knelt down opposite Jiro. "**Tell me. What is Zero?**"

Jirachi looked away, then whispered the answer.

Lelouch furrowed his eyebrows. "**That's not possible.**"

Jiro shook his head. "Jirachi. Jiro jiro rachi jiro chi ra."

"**And Britannia wants to summon this thing?**" Lelouch asked.

"Rachi." The pokémon shrugged. "Rachi jiro chi ra ji."

"**That's… insane.**" Lelouch growled, before shaking his head. "**How do I stop it?**"

"Chiji."

"**I suppose if it had flaws, the plan would be hopeless.**" Lelouch sighed. "**I'll have to think of a plan when the time comes then.**"

"Jirachi."

Lelouch nodded. "**Now, tell me about the Code. How does the Geass evolve into it, and how does it evolve again?**"

"Rachi." Jiro explained. "Rachi jiro chira rachi. Jirochi jira chiji ra jirachi chi. Jiro rachi ji chi ra. Rachi chi jiro jira jira chirachi. Ji rachi chi ra chijira. "

"**All three of them?**" Lelouch asked.

"Chi." Jirachi nodded. "Rachi chi ji chira ra."

Lelouch sighed. "**This makes far too much sense.**" He complained. "**This dream world will die soon, won't it?**"

"Rachi chi." Jiro replied, shaking his head. "Chi rachi jira."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "**That's surprisingly decent of you.**"

"Jirachi." Jirachi smiled, a green tear leaking out of its eye.

"**Before I go, it's about time someone granted your wish.**" Lelouch told the Jirachi. "**All those millennia serving others simulacrums of happiness is too long for any monster.**" Lelouch smiled. "**What can **_**I**_** do for **_**you**_**?**"

Jirachi titled its head as if trying to comprehend the question. "Ri?" it asked.

Lelouch nodded.

Jirachi smiled bitterly. "Shin."

Lelouch was taken back in surprise. "**Really?**" he asked.

"Rachi." It nodded.

Lelouch sighed. "That's what she wanted too, isn't it?" he asked gently.

"Chi." Jiro replied sadly.

Lelouch stood up. "I promise to change that wish of hers." Lelouch vowed, pulling out the police-issue handgun from his jacket. "I promise to make her happy."

"Jirachi." The pokémon smiled as Lelouch pressed the barrel to its head.

"From one **Monster to another,**" Lelouch told the Jirachi, activating his Geass with a smile. "**It has been an honour.**"

"Jirachi."

**BLAM**

* * *

"That was cruel."

Lelouch turned around to see Cyrus standing alone in a sea of white. "Such wishes are wasteful."

"I pay my debts." Lelouch smirked. "Because thanks to Jirachi, I know _two_ ways to kill you."

Cyrus glared at the boy as they both faded into the light. "Later." Lelouch smirked, pointed the gun at his own head as everything faded.

* * *

'|||'|'''||'|''|'||'||'''||'||''''|''''''|||'|||'||''|'|''|''''''||'||'|'||''|'|'||''|'|'|||'|''''|''''''||''''|'||''|||'||''''|'||'|''|'||'|||'

* * *

Lelouch woke up in a forest to see Shirley and Jeremiah kneeling over him. "Your highness!" Jeremiah shouted as Shirley pulled Lelouch into a hug.

"I'm fine." Lelouch told them, sitting up. "How long was I out?"

"Five hours your highness." Jeremiah explained as Shirley sobbed.

Lelouch smirked, looking up at the sky to see the Millennium Comet. "I assume everyone else in the world was out of it too." He said. "And I told you about my status."

"You would be correct, sir." Jeremiah stated, remembering himself as Lelouch stood up. "May I ask, what happened?"

"Shirley." Lelouch interrupted. "Do you remember anything about the past week?" he asked her. "Anything at all?"

"Yeah, being worried about you!" she shouted. "Honestly…"

Lelouch sighed. "Never mind." He told them, drawing Ryujin's masterball. "Let's just get moving again."

* * *

Jeremiah explained that he had had episodes of unconsciousness himself, but he kept waking up throughout the dream world. Lelouch suspected that this may have been due to his dual nature as a pokémon and a human, since Shirley, being a pokémon biologically, didn't pass out at all, but felt a large drain on her power compared to how she was after Lelouch woke up, suggesting that Jirachi had drawn power from the deoxys, like Lelouch suspected.

Just as jirachi had predicted, Lelouch had regained full control of both his Geass. He was now ready for whatever may come.

But first, he had to meet his brother in the Ruins of Alph and wait for the team from the Black Knights.

* * *

"My Darling Marianne!" Charles Zi Britannia boomed as Jasmine stepped into his bed chamber. "It Is Good To See You Again!"

"And you Charles." Jasmine smiled sweetly. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Oh?" Charles asked her, raising an eyebrow. "What Is It, My Love?"

"Our son Lelouch." Jasmine explained with a smile as she drew a sword from the wall. "He wishes to declare war against you, my love."

Charles stood up in rage and fear. "NO!" he shouted as Jasmine placed the sword to her own throat.

"Goodbye." She smiled as the Emperor ran towards her desperately. "My love."

_Slish._

Charles Zi Britannia, the 98th Emperor of the Holy Empire of Britannia, fell to his knees as the girl's head rolled across the granite floor as Jasmine's body slumped onto the red carpet in a pool of blood.

He screamed.

* * *

C.C. felt her flat stomach as she rose from the bed, disappointed to feel it lifeless as ever.

She turned to the usual source of comfort, Jiro, only to find him gone as well.

The witch curled up into a ball, gripping her knees into her chest and sobbed. "**Lelouch…**"

* * *

Ryujin landed atop the northernmost peak of Union Cave before recalling the great storm bird. "Come on." He told Shirley and Jeremiah. "This way-"

"What is it?" Shirley asked him.

"Jeremiah, while I remember, never, ever, EVER, negate the Geass that Shirley is under or she will die." Lelouch commanded. "I cannot stress that enough."

"Understood." Jeremiah bowed, before Lelouch began to lead the way down the mountain again before stopping again. "Sir?"

"I took your metagross." Lelouch remembered. "I don't have him with me."

"That is more than fine sir." Jeremiah saluted. "I am honoured that my pokémon can be of use to you sir."

Lelouch smiled. "Thank you Jeremiah." He said. "Alright, follow me."

"Hey, what happened to you while you were out Lulu?" Shirley asked, jogging alongside Lelouch down the rugged rocks despite her bare feet.

"I grew up." Lelouch told her slyly. "It was… an experience."

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

I merely said that there would be answers. I never said that you'd be the ones getting any.

Nah, just kidding. Again, next chapter, everything gets awesome. Again.

_**Varanus**__: So, a true, blue AU future, huh? And it looks like Lelouch is going to make full use of that bit of providence he got. I'm looking forward to what comes next, as what was set up WAY back in Chapter 15 is being brought to light now._

Prize for whoever can figure out all the foreshadowing I placed in this chapter, since nobody worked the old one out.


	36. Can You See It?

Alright, we have a problem.

I'm out of buffer.

It's my fault for being lazy, but hey. We managed to work out a load of crazy awesome ideas, so now we'll post chapters once they've been as thoughoughly processed as we've been doing them lately, so updates will be irregular, but at no cost at quality.

now, reviews.

Heraklinos, wrong about Arceus.

NightmareSyndrom, I want to remind you of something. You know how I managed to perfectly involve so many SMT characters into Fairly English Story, plus their plotlines and personalities? Remember that the only Atlus game I have ever played was Persona 3 and FES? And that I never completed The Answer? Of course I included pokémon we barely know anything about. I've been doing that for ages.  
I put in Reshiram and Zekrom _because_ we know nothing about them. It reinforced the point that they were in a future. Of course, we know a _lot_ more about them now.

As for your other complaint, and with Karasu's point, I wrote the chapter with Jirachi speaking English. I then went over all its lines because I want the big reveal to be in due time, since you are not yet ready for it.

Just so you know, I watch Criminal Minds while babysitting toddlers. I watched Death Note with my ten-year-old little brother. If I say someone's not ready for it, I have a good reason to say so.

Karasu, as for your other question, I have been foreshadowing this since chapter 15. This is probably the most brilliant plotline I have done since Minatos.

WWDW, of course he was enjoying himself. Who wouldn't?

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"_So, now that you have become Emperor, what have you learned?" Cyrus asked Charles as they watched C.C. and Marianne relax by the riverside._

"_Everyone is trapped, my brother." Emperor Charles answered. "The Nation of Britannia is still the same."_

"_You mean humans are still the same." Cyrus corrected._

"_You may be right." Charles admitted. _

"_Charles." Cyrus said. "You haven't forgotten our pact, have you?"_

"_I remember." Charles nodded. "Bring down the Gods and destroy the world's laws."_

_Cyrus nodded. "Tell me brother." he asked the other. "Can you see it?"_

_"Not today." Charles replied with a smile, seeing his consort throw a strawberry cheesecake at the green-haired witch. "Today, I will allow myself a moment of weakness where I may fool myself that all is right with the world."_

_"That is not good, brother." Cyrus warned, stepping in front of the king. "**You must not grow weak.**"  
_

* * *

Lelouch led Shirley and Jeremiah to Ashford and Cynthia. "I see you've brought a friend." Lelouch told his brother.

"I see you've brought two." Red replied, glaring at Jeremiah and Shirley. "What happened?"

"The Deoxys got me." Shirley told him before Lelouch could lie. "If it wasn't for Lulu, that… _thing_ would be controlling me now, instead of the other way around."

"Y-you can beat the Deoxys?" Cynthia asked Lelouch in shock.

"My Geass can make people's brains inside a Deoxys take over the host." Lelouch explained. "But it wasn't easy. And while I'm at it, did either of you pass out on the way here?" he added. "Specifically, during the five hours between one in the morning and six in the morning?"

"I was asleep." Ash shrugged.

"So was I." Cynthia added. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Nothing." Lelouch obviously lied. "I was just checking that you were both rested for today's battle."

"You mean tomorrow's battle." Ashford corrected. "You're a day early."

Lelouch looked confused for a moment, then checked his pokénav. "So I am." He admitted with surprise. "Sorry, I had a long dream."

Red scowled. "What is it?" Lelouch asked.

"Cyrus is here." The Grandmaster told his brother. "I can feel it."

"Good." Lelouch said with a grin. "Because I know how to kill an immortal man."

* * *

Suzaku rolled over on the steel floor. "Dammit…" he growled, forcing himself to his feet while rubbing his aching head. "What the hell..?" he asked, brushing his non-existent moustache with his finger. _'Blood?'_ he realised, looking at the smear on his finger.

He stepped forward into the pool of blood and covered his mouth as he gagged at the site of the two corpses.

The mangled, empty sack of flesh resembling his schoolmate and the carnage that was a deoxys.

Before he let the rage and disgust take over, however, he reached for a shelf and pulled out a cigarette box and began twirling one of the white sticks between his fingers as he crouched amongst the woman's body. "There is only one external wound." Suzaku stated, as if describing the scene to another. "The victim's clothing has been removed, but has been left in a pile over there, yet is missing the dress.  
"The corpse is empty." Suzaku continued, feeling the body with his gloved fingers. "All muscle, fat, organs and bone are missing, yet the only non-superficial wound is from the…" Suzaku gulped. "Reproductive area."

He looked at the mangled corpse of the deoxys and thought back on what Lelouch was telling Shirley. "The deoxys are known to take human flesh and incorporate it into their own DNA to prolong their lifespan and increase their intelligence. It is possible that the victim was already consumed by the deoxys when I confronted the suspect." Suzaku scowled. "That would explain his physical outburst and the deoxys attacking me rather than its ordered target…"

Suzaku scowled. "It's my fault… he could have saved her…"

_**You do not know that he didn't**_

Suzaku hesitated, but then smiled bitterly. "Thanks Lancelot." He said, putting the cigarette to his mouth and lighting it with blue flame. He coughed up the fumes, however, , and felt a bit nauseous, so he then pressed the cigarette into his palm. "Come on." He told his partner, pocketing the extinguished stub as he brushed the hole in his glove with his thumb. "Let's see what else we can find."

* * *

And so, Lelouch had time on his hands and a ruin to attack.

The question was, however, to attack the ruins _before_ unit Zero arrived from Zero City, or wait until the United States Alliance was formed.

Lelouch decided on waiting. He could be patient.

So while everyone else worked on preparing camp, Lelouch called C.C. and got her to fill him in on what he had missed.

_\_ "The only important change from your scenario is that they chose the United Federation of Nations for a name." _\_ C.C. told him as she concluded her report. _\_ "The Black Knights are now an official army." _\_

"That's good." Lelouch told C.C. "We're stationed outside the Ruins of Alph right now, ready to storm the base tomorrow."

_\_ "Cyrus is there." _\_ C.C. warned.

"You aren't the first to warn me." Lelouch replied with a smirk. "I know what I'm doing."

_\_ "Remember, I need you alive." _\_

Lelouch smirked. "Don't worry. I know of two ways to kill a Code."

_\_ "Hm?" _\_ C.C. asked, managing to keep her composure. _\_ "How?" _\_

"Is it possible I know something you don't, immortal witch?" Lelouch asked slyly. "Well, the method I'm _not_ going to use on Cyrus involves advancing beyond the Code."

Lelouch could almost hear her scowl. _\_ "Is there a stage above a Code?" _\_ she asked.

The boy thought for a moment. "What would you do to me if I ordered Dominos instead of Pizza Hut?"

The witch didn't reply, so Lelouch explained what he knew. "Charles has the Code, and Cyrus, who gave him the Geass, is also a Code." Lelouch stated. "You gave Ashford the Geass, and now he's a Code. I have also reached the incubation stage to advance into the Code. You don't die by transferring the Code."  
"I can deactivate my Geass at will." He told her. "I've advanced far further than Mao, and unlike you, I understand the purpose of the Geass and the Code. Those who fail are erased. Those that succeed evolve. **Either way, we die.**" Lelouch felt his Geass beginning to rise, so he calmed himself. "Just promise me that you won't fail like others have."

_\_ "Jiro told you a lot of things." _\_ C.C. confirmed. It wasn't a question. _\_ "Do you know where he is?" _\_

Lelouch closed his eyes. "He returned to the comet." he lied. "He won't be returning."

_\_ "How do you know all this?" _\_

"Cera." Lelouch said. "Just… trust me."

C.C. hesitated, then sighed. _\_ "You have a lot more to explain Lelouch." _\_ She conceded.

"I will." He promised. "Just wait until after tomorrow's battle."

Lelouch then hung up and shoved his pokénav into his pocket before returning to the camp.

* * *

Charles wept.

To think his own sons could betray him this far.

He rose to his feet.

"Bring me those madmen from Area Eleven." The Emperor ordered. "Bring the boy who captured them too."

Tears could wait.

Now it was time for vengeance.

* * *

Jeremiah stood outside as a guard as the rest of the group was gathered in a hollowed-out cave made by Cynthia's spiritomb's Secret Power, and was filled with an alarming number of stuffed pokémon dolls.

'_Not exactly the best place for a council of war.'_ Lelouch sighed to himself. "Alright, Ashford, what is Cynthia's status?" he asked, turning to the blonde woman. "Are you a hostage or an ally?"

"I'm a scientist." Cynthia replied. "I only want answers, and apparently you have them."

"She joined the Knights of the Round for the tomb-raiding privileges." Ash explained. "Since we'll actually give her answers considering the Geass, she joined our side."

"Alright then." Lelouch nodded. "Jeremiah joined us out of loyalty to Marianne, and Shirley's here because… well…"

"Lulu captured me." Shirley sighed, hands between her legs. "I'm his pokémon now. It's a weird feeling, actually." She added. "I know I'm a slave, yet I don't mind…"

An awkward silence followed this.

Cynthia decided to break it.

"So, how does one obtain a Geass?" she asked anyone in particular.

"By kissing a Code." Lelouch sighed.

"Does this kiss have to be consensual?" Cynthia asked.

"Well, Ash stole his Geass, so I doubt it." Lelouch shrugged. "But I don't think the Geass can be forced onto someone who doesn't want it."

"And Red is a Code right now?" Cynthia asked.

Ash sighed. "Yeah, why—?"

He was interrupted by a blonde scientist stealing a Geass from him. For science.

"It really doesn't have to be that long." Lelouch sighed after several seconds.

"Just making sure." Cynthia breathed, pulling away after a minute. "How do I turn it on?"

"It should be activated already." Lelouch answered with furrowed eyebrows. "Did you feel a rush of psychic energy connecting your minds while you were kissing?" he asked professionally while the other two were somewhat flabbergasted.

"No." Cynthia sighed, scratching the back of her head under her hair. "Was there supposed to be?"

"Either that or he's just not that good a kisser, contrary to all other evidence." Lelouch sighed. "If you want a Geass, you'd be best off waiting for C.C. to arrive then. Apparently transfer of the Geass varies from Code to Code, and Ash hasn't figured his method out yet."

"Oh, that's good." Ash smiled. "So no worry about Geass becoming the newest STD. My afterlife doesn't suck so bad."

"Defiance comes from the balls Ash." Lelouch pointed out.

The younger boy just stared at his brother, before standing up and storming out of the Secret Base. "Jeremiah!" he shouted. "I'm on watch now!"

"Hey, what about your pokémon?" Cynthia asked Cynthia as Dunsparce entered the base. "Can you take a pokéball into the pokéball with you?"

"Dunno." Shirley replied. "I can only take one thing at a time, so I obviously haven't tried."

"Did you bring her pokémon?" Cynthia asked Lelouch, who handed the balls over. "Right, lend me her pokéball now."

"What, what?" Shirley asked in shock.

"For science." Cynthia explained with an evil glint.

* * *

"Pokéballs cannot enter pokéballs." Cynthia explained, coming out from behind the curtain with a blushing Shirley a few minutes later. "Also, the dress comes off inside the pokéball."

"That must be aggravating for you miss." Jeremiah told Shirley with Sympathy. "I'm only part-pokémon, so I cannot be captured inside a pokéball."

Cynthia slammed her fist into her palm. "Deoxys can manipulate their DNA at will!" she exclaimed, before turning to Shirley. "Can you use Transform?"

"Eeeh?"

"Shirley's not your lab-rat." Lelouch snapped, glaring at Cynthia. "Don't treat her like some freak."

"Lulu…"

_-^- Deoxys, the DNA pokémon. An alien virus that fell to earth on a meteor underwent a DNA mutation to become this Pokémon. It requires human DNA in order to stabilize its own. It is highly intelligent and wields psychokinetic powers. This Pokémon shoots lasers from the crystalline organ on its chest. The crystalline organ on this Pokémon's chest appears to be its brain. -^-_

"Turn that off." Lelouch snapped at his brother who had just snuck back inside.

"Funny." Cynthia commented as Ashford snapped his pokédex shut. "I didn't see any crystalline organ on her chest…"

"THAT'S IT!" Lelouch shouted, rising to his feet and storming out of the Secret Base.

"Lulu!" Shirley shouted after him.

"**Eh, it's fine.**" Ash shrugged, vaulting onto a sofa. "**The stress is bound to get to him sooner or later.**"

* * *

Ashford was wrong.

Lelouch wasn't stressed.

He was thinking.

He knew how to kill Cyrus. If the plan went well, he could keep the ruins undamaged so he could figure out the rest of the riddles Vengeance and Jiro had told him, but if the Black Knights attacked in full force then most of this damage would be unusable.

'_But if I advance myself into a Code and go in alone, then I will not be able to kill Cyrus.'_ Lelouch sighed. _'And if we attack with the few we have now, then I'll certainly get killed in the assault.'_

Lelouch could only think of one way to attain victory, but it wasn't fair.

He had promised himself not to let his soul get in the way of his goals anymore, but still…

"Hey, Lulu."

Lelouch glanced over his shoulder to see Shirley walk out of the Secret Base to sit next to him. "Hey." He told her. "How're you feeling?"

"Good, I guess." Shirley sighed. "I can't believe it was only the day before yesterday when everything was all right and well with the world, and now…"

Lelouch lowered his head. "About what they were saying back in there…" Shirley continued. "It's fine, really, I don't mind it." She smiled, but he could tell it was false. "I'm just glad to be alive."

'_I can't ask this of her.'_ Lelouch glared to himself. _'She deserves more than this.'_

"Lulu." Shirley sighed. "I want you to use me."

The young man stopped dead, his head slowly turning to the deoxys who thought she was a girl. "I can feel this body's strength." Shirley explained. "I know you can use it, and I want you to use it. I loved you before Lulu, and I still do, but…"

She turned to face him. "You won't let me help you." She told him. "I know I haven't been like this long, but you didn't let me fight with you in Goldenrod. You're planning to attack these ruins without using me, and it hurts." She sobbed. "I know I'm just being petty, and it's just the deoxys talking but… when you don't use me to fight… it breaks my heart Lulu!"

"I…" Lelouch managed, before looking down. "I'm sorry…"

Shirley smiled. "It's different when you're a pokémon." She told Lelouch. "It's like… using Dive."

Lelouch gave her a look of surprise, confusion, and interest, gesturing for the girl to elaborate. "I mean, you know when you're in the bubble with your pokémon, but you can still feel the water around you." Shirley explained. "But it's a whole different world. You look at things differently, and you feel differently too. I want to fight." She added, clenching a dark skinned fist. "I'm not angry, I don't want to kill, I've just got this desire to prove myself- both to me and the world." She blushed. "I don't want to let you down. I want to please you, to make you proud of me. I'm not a mindless slave, but I feel that as long as I'm by your side and I do what you say, then I'll be happy." She leant her head onto his shoulder. "Is that wrong Lulu?"

Lelouch smiled to himself. She'd just described that feeling at the back of his head that he'd felt in jirachi's world.

The feeling of being a pokémon…

"No." he told her, opening his hand and looking at his palm. "No, I completely understand what you mean." He added, remembering the power he once wielded like it was nothing.

And darkness formed in a claw around Shirley's hand.

"I-I'm sorry!" Shirley gasped, covering her mouth and dispelling the darkness. "I- I didn't mean to-"

Lelouch flipped over onto his knees and held the hand. "Do that again." He told her.

"Eh?" she asked. "I- I don't know how…"

"From what we've figured out, Deoxys can't learn either Night Slash or Shadow Claw…" Lelouch realised. _'But I could… did she mimic one of my moves?'_

'_No, I haven't advanced to that stage yet, and even so Deoxys can't learn Mimic.'_ Lelouch realised. _'Did I just control her body with my brainwaves?'_

"Shirley." Lelouch told her, grabbing hold of her head on both sides. "I need you to hold still and try to empty your mind."

"O-okay..?" she replied, closing her eyes.

Lelouch took a deep breath, then slowly moved his face into hers.

They bumped foreheads.

It hurt Lelouch. Shirley was just disappointed.

"Right, of course that was a stupid idea…" Lelouch sighed, getting to his feet. "Never mind." He laughed, patting Shirley on the head. "It wasn't going to—"

* * *

'|''||'''|||'|'|'||'||'''|||'|'|''||||||

'|'|'|||'||'|''''||''''|'|||'|''''|''|||'|||''||''|''''''||'|''''||''''|'|||'''''|||'''''||''|'|'||'|||''||'|''|'||'|||''||''|||''||||||

'|''||'''|'|'|'|'|''||'''|'|'|'|''|''''|

* * *

Lelouch opened Shirley's eyes.

They looked down at themselves- Lelouch was wrapped in black, red and blue organic armour.

And their thoughts were one.

They raised an arm, summoning a Shadow Ball as the fingers split into a maelstrom of tentacles around Lelouch's human hand.

'|'|'|'''||'|''''||'|''|'|||''||''|''''''||'|''|'|||''||''|''''''||'|||''||''|'|'|||'||| they said.

They looked towards the ruins.

They smiled.

They vanished.

* * *

Spikes grew out of the back of their head and from their shoulders as their speed grew exponentially. They became a blur, moving too fast for their targets to react as they rushed down through the tunnel leading to the central ruins.

Bursting through another bulwark like it was a paper screen, they leapt high into the air. Any and all counterattacks mounted by the unprepared troops inside the ruins went wide.

Soaring above their heads, Lelouch took advantage of their bird's-eye view of the area.

It was a massive chamber build into the cavern, with ancient buildings cut right into the rock. Thick stone pillars stretched from the ground to the roof of the cavern, seemingly carved from stalagmites. Lelouch latched onto one with a flick of Shirely's tentacled armor and looked down at the scene.

A central path ran straight to the most important looking building, a regal ruin with concrete and stainless steel extensions, which sat at the centre of the complex.

That was where their target waited.

Lelouch ignored the mounting excitement he felt coming from the deoxys, while Shirley blamed the building sensation inside of her on nerves.

Lelouch cast his gaze around the rest of the ruins, getting a good look at the shape of the board and the pawns, rooks and knights scrambling to get them.

He had never played a game quite like this before, where the king and the queen were one and the same. Where, when the king moved, the queen moved in that same step.

It reminded him of a proverb… Who was it that said, _'If the king does not move, the rest will not follow'_?

Oh, that's right. He did.

A torrent of elemental attacks zeroed in on their position, but Lelouch had predicted it. He could feel them through Shirley, the shapes of the defending pokemon's minds.

Lelouch ordered Shirley to use Agility.

They vanished.

They moved too fast to be seen, too fast to even see themselves. Everything was a blur, but Lelouch used thought, the subtle markings of his opponent's minds to construct the board in his minds eye.

He didn't need sight here. It had been a long, long time since Lelouch needed to see the board to win a game of chess.

They lightly touched down among a crowd of scientists. A moment later, they dashed away, leaving only bloody gore behind.

King captures Pawn.

There was a cacophony of thought around him, and the deoxys reveled in their terror, growing drunk off their blood. To Lelouch, however, they were merely indicative of where the pieces lay. It was like being back at Shinjuku that fateful day, astounding ally and enemy alike with his tactics when all he had done was take advantage of Brittania's naïve use of IFF.

It was such a simple thing to reach out to the song of thoughts around him and silence the voices, one by one, with a flick of a tentacle or bolt of psychic energy.

Lelouch tracked where a soldier was firing, and they reached out to him. He fell to the ground, blindly scrambling for his severed neck, gargling bloody foam.

King captures Pawn.

They appeared before the soldier's comrades. The lithe, sharp whips around Lelouch's limbs lashed out at their command, tearing through the human guards and their pokémon alike.

King captures Rook.

They felt the presence behind them, and turned.

Another deoxys.

They raised a hand, launching a wave of spiralling purple energy at it- a Psycho Boost.

The simulacrum of the monster didn't stand a chance, bursting into bloody paste and sickly fluid before it could respond.

King captures Knight.

A child appeared beside them, the girl's eye flaring red. They stumbled, their world turning upside down. Lelouch chided himself for overlooking the fact that he would still be vulnerable to Geass, and ordered a Swift.

They flailed their limbs, launching a hundred shining star projectiles at the Geass-bearing child.

A scientist knocked the girl out of the way and was lacerated by the attack in her place.

Pawn moves to guard Bishop, King captures Pawn.

Unfortunately for the pawn, the shove had surprised the girl, making her inadvertently cancel her Geass. She looked back in shock at the dead scientist, then back the unified monster.

Her eye flared, a second too late. They took a step beyond her as sharp whips buzzed through the air.

There was a burst of blood as they passed, the girl fell to pieces behind them.

King captures Bishop, and Lelouch moved onto the next.

Shirley, however, cowered in the back of the combined mind.

She could feel Deoxys's bloodlust and delight at the carnage

She felt Lelouch's apathy to the slaughter. He didn't care about these soldiers, about these scientists, about these _children_; they were only in his way. Only pieces to knock over as he moved towards his checkmate.

The monster's Fire and her master's Ice were swirling around her in a maelstrom of rage.

And it was consuming her.

She needed it to end. She was at her threshold, she couldn't accept much more.

A shudder of fear and an ominous presence ran through her, and Lelouch realised it was stemming from the deoxys.

They looked up at the stern-faced man standing atop a shadowy behemoth.

The master of the ruins had come to greet them, atop Giratina, legendary beast of the void. Lelouch sneered at the sight, of his opponent posturing himself as a king of darkness and nihilism.

Shirley recoiled in horror. The deoxys in her broke into panic, and all she could see was a nightmare, a black spot in her mind and the world where a horrible king stood, its glare burning into her mind.

'|''''||'||||''|'|||''|''|||'|'|'|||''|| Lelouch growled as Shirley screamed.

The tentacles began to tear away from the boy. '|''|||'O!" he shouted, his voice emerging from the bizarre sounds. "Not ye'|||'|''''|''''''|'|''||'||'|''''||'|''|'|||''|''||'||''ey! AAARRGGHH!"

The armour peeled back and flopped onto the floor like a discarded rubber glove. _"Lulu…_" it gasped, reforming into Shirley. "Not this… please…"

"So that was your plan to kill me." Cyrus stated, activating his Geass and glaring at Lelouch. "**How childlike.**" He sneered.

* * *

C.C. scowled. "**That** **fool.**" She muttered, standing to her feet. "He actually believes he can defeat Cyrus? Even ignoring his Code, that man is…"

She walked over to the phone and called Silver. "Zero has initiated combat with the enemy alone." She told Silver. "We need to save that **idiot now.**"

* * *

Jeremiah, Cynthia and Red knew something was up as soon as Lelouch and Shirley merged. Grabbing their weapons and their pokémon, they rushed at full speed to the ruins to fight.

Scattered soldiers turned to attack, and were cut down in short order. Most, however, had fled to regroup, and many of the wider corridors through the winding buildings and chambers had been collapsed by Lelouch's rampage, further restricting the enemy's movement. With a quick Hyperbeam from Red's aerodactyl, several more passages followed suit, burying the charging troops under the rubble.

The two men lead the charge, both of them being immune to the Geass and capable of resisting the Geass users being bred in the ruins. Red's aerodactyl soared above them, crashing into buildings to bury soldiers and Geass users alike under Rock Slides, while quick bolts of electricity from Jeremiah and Pika mopped up any survivors.

Cynthia, to make up for being less able to fight in comparison, searched the ruins for Lelouch's and Shirley's aura. Her garchomp rushed towards approaching enemies, using Earthquake to collapse their shelters around them, and its talons to do the rest. "This way!" she decided, leading the team down one particular corridor.

It lead to a wide chamber, one covered in blood and flesh.

"He- he's gone…"

A lone girl knelt naked in the centre, sobbing with several spikes shooting out her back, curving to pin their victims to the walls and ceiling. "I'm sorry…" she choked. "I… I lost control for a second, and…"

Cynthia stepped forward and knelt in the red puddle, her black clothes soaking up the organic fluids as she held the crying girl.

* * *

It was only Lelouch and Cyrus in this empty world.

It was a dead world- a desert. The ground was cracked from the lack of rain, and the sun burnt brightly in a scorched sky. The few trees in the distance were dead and crumbling. A lone tumble weed crawled across the plains in search of water that wasn't there.

_'A world after doomsday.'_ Lelouch thought to himself. _'How fitting.'_

"**Your plan was a foolish one my nephew.**" Cyrus stated as he began to pace around Lelouch. "**By combining with that poor girl, you hoped that you could acquire sufficient power to erase one such as I?**"

"**No, actually.**" Lelouch replied with a sneer. "**That was simply an experiment that went amazingly right for once.**" Lelouch drew two of Tuckers blades from behind his back and readied himself. "**This is how I shall kill you.**"

Cyrus tightened his eyebrows. "**Foolish mortal.**" He sighed as he circled his nephew. "**Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.**"

Lelouch chuckled, and began walking around his uncle. "**But then I sigh, and, with a piece of scripture, Tell them that God bids us do good for evil:**" he replied. "**And thus I clothe my naked villainy** **With odd old ends, stol'n out of holy writ;** **And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.**"

"**Villain, thou know'st no law of God nor man;**" Cyrus barked. "**No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity.**"

"**What see'st thou else In the dark backward and abysm of time?**" Lelouch asked with a smirk. _'We're not even quoting Shakespeare in context anymore.'_

"**'||'||'|'||'|''|'|||''||'|||''||'||'|''|'||'|||''||''|||'||'|||''||'||||**" Cyrus replied.

Lelouch's eyes widened in shock, reaching down for the pokéballs that weren't there. "**There are no pokémon in this realm.**" Cyrus explained, holding out his arm as two streams of white circled into his open palm, forming into a long, wide blade in his hand. "**You are trapped here in my world.**"

Lelouch grinned. "**I knew it.**" He taunted, twirling a green blade in his hand before stabbing it into the ground. "**I don't even need a blade to kill you here.**"

Cyrus stared at Lelouch, before holding out his hand. "**You shall die here, at the end of the world.**"

"**Tell me, Uncle.**" Lelouch asked as the scorched sky began to reflect images of his life, flickering a slideshow of his own life. "**What made you give up on your own heart?**"

The images stopped on a scene Lelouch did not recognise. _'Just as planned.'_ He thought to himself as they were pulled away from the wasteland.

* * *

"_Mother?" Cyrus asked a grieving woman with short blue hair, sobbing by a bloodstained bedside. "I'm here mother…"_

"_Thank you Cyrus."_ _The woman replied, smiling through her tears. "But… I want to be with your father right now…"_

"_Father is dead mother." Cyrus told his mother, rushing over and embracing her. "We cannot visit him."_

"_Yes we can…" the woman sobbed, as if realising a new conclusion. "Together…"_

* * *

The vision stopped. "**You looked so young then.**" Lelouch commented. "**Just like your name. Cyrus.**" Lelouch smiled. "**Biblical. Persian for 'Far sighted, young', yet also Greek for 'Lord'. Famous for the Persian king Cyrus the Great, who conquered Babylon and freed the Jews, allowing them to return to Israel.**"

"**Lelouch.**" Cyrus replied. "**A play on words for the French word 'Louche', meaning 'Of questionable morality, decadent'.**" He glared at his nephew. "**You own mother named you 'The Suspicious One'.**"

"**She obviously knew me better than your mother knew you.**" Lelouch replied with a smile. "**Yet she named your brother Charles, meaning 'Man', or 'Army, strong'. A Germanic name from your mother's homeland. He was the one named for your father.**"

* * *

"_**My son…**__" a dying man told Cyrus with uncontrollable Geass in both eyes. "__**Please, end this life of mine.**__"_

"_I cannot do that my king." Cyrus replied with dead eyes. "One cannot kill the dead."_

_Charles the third collapsed onto his bed, the light fading from his eyes as his breathing stopped. He took another sharp breath, his Geass dragging him back from the sweet embrace of death with only a moments peace from his tortured existence. "__**Do you not love even your own father..?**__" the king pleaded. "__**Have I not raised you well?**__"_

"_You were a wonderful father, my king." Cyrus replied with gaunt eyes. "I do not blame you, not hold any shame to me. However, there is one reason that I cannot grant your desire."_

"_**You have the Code.**__" Charles the third pleaded. "__**You can end my pain!**__"_

_Cyrus knelt on the floor next to the bed. "__**My king, no, father…**__" ho told the dying king. "__**All lives were equal… to you… and so, you were revived… but you've noticed by now, haven't you?**__" Cyrus asked his father, pausing as the king died and was revived again. "__**The only thing all humans are equal in… is death.**__"_

"_**Not us…**__" Charles the Third groaned. "__**We don't deserve the care of the Reaper.**__"_

_Cyrus leaned closer to his father. "__**Can you see it?**__" The Code asked his father, his Geass flaring up as he pointed to his own forehead. "__**The scenery of Doomsday…**__"_

* * *

"**So it was your mother's death.**" Lelouch said. "**Amazing that such a trivial matter could break you so much.**"

"**If I recall, everything you have done so far was to avenge your mother.**" Cyrus replied. "**The mother I killed.**"

"**You're wrong.**" Lelouch said as the images flashed across the canvass of clouds. "**I am a matricide, just like yourself.**"

Cyrus glared. "**I did not kill my mother.**" He replied, the images stopping. "**Nor did you.**"

"**Marianne survived.**" Lelouch smiled. "**Just like your father, she only discovered the true nature of her Geass upon her death. You only managed to destroy her body.**" He continued. "**I finished the job.**"

* * *

"_MOTHER!"_

_The young Lelouch watched helplessly as his mother fell atop his sister Nunnally in a pool of blood. He stopped struggling against the guards holding him back, over come with despair as Nunnally screamed._

"_Tell me, boy." Cyrus told Lelouch, a smoking gun in his hand. "__**Can you see it? The scenery at doomsday?**__"_

_Lelouch stared in horror at the man- the monster who just murdered his mother and ruined his sisters legs as he was stolen into a dead world of despair._

_And the young girl watching the scene was taken over by a heartless woman, and ran, abandoning her children to the hell she refused to save them from._

* * *

"**You don't like pokémon, do you?**" Lelouch asked Cyrus.

"**Weapons are only as such.**" Cyrus replied. "**As with all things, they serve their role in that world.**"

"**But not here.**" Lelouch noted with a smile. "**In this world, there is nothing but you and me. A dead world where you are the only thing that matters. Yet, you can only enter this world within your soul by bringing someone from the outside into your heart.**"

Lelouch laughed as the scenes began to move through the sky again. "**The Geass hates men.**" He said. "**You desire a world where you are alone and the only thing, yet it means nothing if there isn't someone else to see it!**"

Cyrus raised a hand at Lelouch. "**Enough.**" He ordered the boy. "**I am god here.**"

* * *

"_You are dead." The Emperor sighed._

"_Eh?" Lelouch gasped._

"_You have been dead from the moment you were born." The emperor explained. "Who gave you those clothes you wear? Your home? Your food? Even your life! I GAVE THEM ALL TO YOU! YOU HAVE NOT LIVED FOR A SINGLE MOMENT! HOW FOOLISH CAN YOU BE?"_

_The emperor stood up from his throne and Lelouch fell back, squealing in fear. "Lelouch." The emperor glared. "A dead man has no rights. You will go to Japan with Nunnally. A prince and a princess should make good bargaining chips."_

* * *

"**I'm sure that a god could crush a mortal.**" Lelouch told Cyrus. "**Is that truly all you can do? Show me memories?**"

"**What has been, what happened elsewhere, what could be.**" Cyrus replied. "**This is nothing.**"

* * *

"_Oh, I thought you're Japanese!" a bloodstained Euphie apologised to Zero as she loaded her gun. "Say, Zero, would you like to join me build the Special Administrative Zone of Japan..." she tilted her head in confusion. "Um… Japan..?"_

_"**I would like to, Euphie.**" Zero told her honestly as he raised a gun. "**Together.**"_

_He fired a bullet into her chest._

_'Goodbye, Euphie.' Lelouch thought as the princess fell to the ground. 'You were the first woman I ever loved.'_

* * *

Lelouch fell backwards. "What… what is…?"

"**You have been fortunate, Lelouch.**" Cyrus told him. "**You have been saved by others so many times, you do not even know it yourself. Such arrogance. You think you know the extent of your crimes? You think you have accepted that you have blood on your hands?**"

"**You know nothing, little child.**" Cyrus told Lelouch.

* * *

Red twisted around behind him in the bloodstained chamber, and his pikachu on his shoulder suddenly darted to attention. "Is something wrong?" Jeremiah asked him.

"**Can you see it?**" the younger boy asked. Pika's cheeks sparked with electricity as it began to nervously growl.

"See what?" Jeremiah asked, turning around to look better.

"**Just... in the corner of my eye...**" Ash whispered, slowly tracking his head around the room as he tapped the side of his head, following his own gaze with his finger. "**It's there...**** I know it's there...**"

Cynthia turned to look at Red. "What is it?" she asked, not leaving Shirley alone. Her garchomp edged a little closer to her, the fearless dragon suddenly becoming apprehensive.

"**I don't know...**" he replied. "**Because I just miss it... your eyes pass over it... because I really, really, really do not want to see it...**"

"See what?" Jeremiah asked, twisting his head around and expanding his electrical field to search. "What are we looking for?"

At the back of his mind, Rotom went silent.

"_T-the father_..." Shirley sobbed as her arm mutated into a writhing mass of tentacles. "_A-and the s-son... and the phantom... of all pokémon..._"

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Next chapter, shit shall become real.

Hey, I wonder what Nunnally's doing right now?

_**Varanus: **Wow, Shirley didn't take that well. Well, that's the difference between knowing you have a capacity to kill and actually understanding it. And I bet you all thought she was in the clear!_

So, yeah. Like I said, irregular updates from now on.


	37. Cyrus Lied

Those of you familiar with German might understand the title of this chapter, because if you do, it's a very good title. Otherwise, I might as well have called it 'Cyrus Dropped Da Bomb', but I didn't want any Yvan Eht Nioj

Nightmare Syndrom, I wasn't offended. Just a little surprised at your lack of faith. And in the original Code Geass, there was no Red.

**IMPORTANT: I intend to write a novel in the future that will involve many fight scenes like this one. I need you to tell me how you felt about this battle, because it's different from what I normally do but this is what I **_**want**_** to be able to do. **

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"_Empress Marianne." The witch bowed as she entered the lab. _

"_C.C.." the dark haired empress smiled, turning her head from the lab table to look at her friend. "Thank you for coming. I require your assistance with a little project of mine."_

"_Of course milady." C.C. nodded, approaching her friend. "How can I be of-"_

_She stopped dead when she saw the blood._

"_Oh, don't be alarmed." Marianne told her, gesturing to the hole in her belly. "Charles and I conceived last night. Look." She asked, holding up a petri-dish. "This is my next child."_

_C.C.'s eyebrows furrowed. "What are you trying to accomplish with this?"_

"_I was hoping that you could donate one of your ovaries." Marianne told her. "I know that you cannot produce children, but if I extract DNA from your eggs and implant them in this fertilised egg of mine, then the child could only be of greatness."_

_C.C. took a scalpel from the worktop and slipped out of her dress. "You intend to create a child that was born with the Code?" she asked the empress, wincing as she sliced her own abdomen open. "It will have some of my abilities, but immortality will not be one of them."_

"_Oh, of course." Marianne smiled as blood spilled onto the floor. "But when either you or Cyrus gives the infant the Geass, this one will also have multiple other abilities to grow into." The witch almost vomited as she slipped her hand into her own insides and began searching for the ovary. "One I am confident that it will receive will be the power to sense aura. Yes, this one will be able to know someone's soul with just a touch."_

"_Such senses will not grow naturally, no matter how you engineer the child milady." C.C. pointed out, handing the empress her ovary as the useless organ reformed inside of her._

"_Oh, I know." Marianne replied, taking C.C.'s gift gratefully. "I may have to remove one of this child's senses in order for it to achieve its potential." _

_The empress placed the ovary onto a tray and took a syringe from the sterilised water. "Yes, removing the child's sight should cause her dormant senses to awaken…"_

* * *

"_**STOP IIIIITTTT!**_"

"**Does it hurt?**" Cyrus asked Lelouch. "**That your mother and your woman are such monsters?**"

The prince gripped the hard dirt, glaring at his uncle. "**I am merely sickened that Nunnally's fate was planned from her birth.**" He replied. "**I would accuse you of lying, but these images cannot show lies, can they?**"

"**Only truths that only were in another place.**" Cyrus replied. "**That truth, however, was true in a thousand worlds, yours is one of them.**"

Lelouch glared, panting for breath. "**Why did either you or C.C. have to give Nunnally the Code?**" he asked. "**Why not decide there and then?**"

* * *

"_Daddy?" the young Charles asked his father. "Why doesn't Elizabeth have a Geass like we do?"_

"_We were playing with her earlier, but she didn't know about it." Cyrus explained. "Is it because she's uncle Edwards daughter?"_

_The older Charles chuckled. "No, it's not that." He told the boys, kneeling down to them. "See, mother can only give the Geass to boys." He explained. "She's special, what's called a 'Code'. It means that she can give the Geass to any boy she kisses."_

"_Why not girls though?" little Charles asked. "I've seen Elizabeth kiss her mummy."_

"_And that's fine." The father told them with a smile, standing up from his squat. "But mummy can only give it to boys. Now run along you three."_

"_Yes father." Viet nodded, leading his two brothers back to the river._

* * *

Deep in the catacombs of the Ruins of Alph, team Galactic were preparing for a counter-attack.

That… monster, had burst in here from nowhere and made mincemeat out of half their men and researchers, even the Deoxys they'd unleashed.

Cyrus had trapped it in his Geass, thankfully, but now there was a monster woman, two knights of the round, and Jeremiah.

For Mars, she doubted that it could get any worse.

Which was why she wasn't surprised when she was grabbed from behind.

"**Don't say a word.**" Her attacker whispered into her ear. She felt the man's strength in his arms, and glancing down, he was naked.

She couldn't resist. It wasn't just his strength, but his aura was even more crushing than Cyrus's.

She couldn't even resist as his other hand brushed up her torso and began squeezing on her left breast. "**Hm, not bad.**" The man purred. "**Your uniform doesn't give you enough credit.**"

Mars cringed as he peeled away the hard white plastic from her breast. _'I could kill him.'_ she thought to herself as the plastic bent out of shape and away from her black bodysuit. _'Just use my Geass on him and he's dead. I could do that easily.' _She flinched as the man grabbed the plastic covering of her right breast, slowly peeling it back. _'No, not even that! I just need to drop magnezone's pokéball and I'll be free.'_

She gripped the ball in her hand as the man behind her began slipping her distorted white dress off her waist as it fell to the ground. _'So why can't I?'_

"**Wow.**" The man behind her whistled, his hand caressing her waist. "**You look _so_ good in skin-tight whatever.**" He began stroking her groin. "**But, I just _can't_ seem to find how you take it off…**"

Sobbing, Mars reached up a hand and grabbed the collar of her bodysuit, stretching the neck until it came down her shoulder. She dropped magnezone's pokéball in a way so it wasn't released so she could use her other hand to pull her bare arm and shoulder out of the sleeve, exposing the left breast.

The man behind her leant his head forward to confirm her bare breast. "**So, it's a one piece that you aren't wearing anything under?**"

Mars quietly nodded.

"**Damn.**" The man grunted, stepping away and storming off. "**What's a man gotta do to get a pair of pants around here?**"

Mars turned silently to watch him walk off. _'W-what the hell..?'_

* * *

'_Gender restrictions on passing the Geass?'_ Lelouch thought. _'Why? I doubt it has any moral purpose, so why does the contractor have to be a different gender to the Geass User?'_

'_Love?'_ Lelouch thought. _'Ashford treats C.C. as a relative, Mao was obsessed with her, even I…' _

'_Still, that doesn't explain why.'_ Lelouch continued. _'__Besides, in C.C.'s memories I saw a nun with the Code. Shouldn't that mean her contractor was a woman?'_

* * *

_A dark haired teenage girl bathed in the baptism font of the chapel. "__**Thank you so much sister.**__" She announced, one Geass permanently active. "__**I've nowhere left to bathe without someone coming to propose to me.**__"_

"_Oh, not at all Cera." The nun told her with a smile. "A woman should be able to bathe in peace at least twice a year, whether she likes it or not." The nun poked a head around the corner with a smile. "Of course, you do like to be clean, don't you?"_

_The teenager covered herself. "__**Hey!**__" she protested. "__**Well, yes. I… don't want to go back to before…**__"_

_The nun nodded, remembering the young girl without a name that collapsed in the chapel in chains almost ten years before. Since then, Cera had grown into a wonderful young woman, a hard worker, a devout member of the church, and was learning to get by even with one Geass constantly active. _

_The nun slipped out of the holy tunic and began unbuttoning the undergarments "__**You're not coming in, are you?**__"_

"_Of course." The nun replied, stepping into the water in the nude. "We're all sisters in the Lord, aren't we?"_

_Cera's eyes were drawn unconsciously to the flesh floating in the water before standing upright and leaving the font. "__**Y-yes sister.**__" Cera nodded as water dripped from her body. "__**I'm done, so I'll go prepare dinner.**__"_

_She closed the door behind her as the nun took the knife in hand, and Cera cringed as he began to mutilate herself- removing god's curse that forbade her from being a woman._

_Cera shuddered at the pain her master inflicted upon herself every day. It would just grow back, no matter how many times the nun castrated herself. _

* * *

"**Ah.**" Lelouch nodded. "**I assume you have entered C.C.'s mind once too?**"

"**Yes.**" Cyrus nodded. "**Perhaps you may enlighten me. You claim to know her true name?**"

Lelouch tilted his head. "**Did you not hear it?**"

"**Whenever I try, her name is muted.**" Cyrus confessed.** "All I hear is the sound of a raindrop penetrating a pool of water.** **Why can you hear it but not I?**"

Lelouch grinned. "**You're just like Mao, aren't you?**" he asked, realising this man's weakness.

* * *

_C.C. looked down at the man kneeling in the grass, offering her the ring as she held the single rose._

"_Who do you think you are?"_

_Cyrus looked up at the woman. "A child who thinks he is a man, a little boy to me, and you think you can woo me?"_

"_M-my feelings are true!" Cyrus proclaimed, standing up and holding his chest. "Every time I see you, my heart skips a beat! I see you in my dreams at night, you're my Venus, the only one I want! I love you with all my heart and I promise that I can make you happy!"_

"_How many times have I heard that promise?" C.C. asked him. "How many men have promised to make me happy, have given me joy for a time, only for them to decay into shells of their former selves, to die and leave me alone? No Cyrus." She told him. "I don't doubt that you can make me happy for a time. But what I want is not happiness. I've had enough men worship me as a goddess."_

"_But-"_

"_Shalt thou compare me to a summer's day?" C.C. asked him scathingly. "Or build me a palace to symbolise heaven? Perhaps you intend to paint me into the Sistine chapel, or give me the Holy Grail that Christ himself drank from? No Cyrus." She told him, walking away. "It is not a wonderful man I seek. Not someone to erase the pain."_

"_I'M JUST LIKE YOU!" Cyrus shouted after her. "Who else can you share eternity with? I won't decay or die C.C." he promised. "I will always be here for you."_

_C.C. glanced back at him as a young boy ran up to her. "Auntie Settee!" Ashford shouted, jumping up to her. "Auntie Settee!"_

_She smiled at the boy. "How many times do I have to tell you?" she asked him. "It's C.C.. See-Two." She pronounced._

"_But you're so soft like a Settee…" Ashford laughed, rubbing his face into her chest._

"_You're going to hurt your wife if you don't grow out of that Ashford." C.C. told him with a smile._

"_But I want to marry you auntie C.C.!" Ashford told her._

"_I thought you wanted to marry Cornelia." She asked him._

"_And Euphie." Ash laughed. "And Nunnally. And Milly. I loves you all!"_

* * *

Lelouch laughed. "**Oh, that was pathetic.**" he cried, wiping a tear from his eye. "**I bet you even scoured through Shakespeare's sonnets and all the romance novels just so you could memorize the right lines to say!**"

Cyrus glared at the boy. "**You actually did?**" Lelouch laughed again. "**Didn't you realise that half of them were written about her? Do you even know which Sonnet is her favourite?**"

"**I doubt you discuss poetry together, boy.**" Cyrus snarled.

"**My Mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun.**" Lelouch quoted. "**Coral is far more red than her lips red, If Snow be white, why then her breasts are dun, If hair be wires, black wires grow on her head, I have seen roses damask'd red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks, And in some perfume is there more delight, Than in the breath from my mistress reeks, I love to hear her speak, Yet well I know That music has a far more pleasing sound, I grant I never saw a goddess go, My mistress when she walks treads on the ground, And yet by heaven I think my love as rare, As any she belied with false compare.**"

Lelouch grinned. "**That's the only Sonnet I ever memorised, because C.C. told me about it while writing my literature essay last year.**" He told his uncle."**She knew the bard like an old friend, but that Sonnet was her favourite because it **_**wasn't about her.**_"

"**SHUT UP!**" Cyrus roared, a canyon forming under Lelouch's feet. He stepped over it, smiling at his uncle as he regained his composure. "**How did you do it?**" he snarled. "**What makes you so different from those before you?**"

Lelouch smiled. "**Because I'd bring home the wrong pizza.**"

* * *

_"You did this to piss me off, didn't you?" C.C. asked an older Lelouch, glaring at the Meateor Pizza the traitor brought her._

_"It's good to have variety in your diet." Lelouch joked, picking up a slice of pizza. He was in a good mood._

_C.C. glared at him before tossing a Shadow Ball into his face, knocking him off the table. "Witch." Lelouch smirked, getting to his feet and throwing a Shadow Ball back at her._

_It dissipated the moment it touched her. "Pathetic." She smirked, throwing another orb of darkness at him as he ducked under the table._

_He got to his feet and launched a psybeam, only to get blown back by a tri-attack._

_"Dammit witch." Lelouch growled as C.C. smirked._

_"Come on then boy." She taunted. "Can't even take on a pregnant woman?"_

_The pizza was forgotten, left to go cold._

* * *

"**That… that's impossible.**" Cyrus snarled. "**What romance-**"

"**Romance?**" Lelouch asked, laughing. "**You truly are a fool.**"

"**SILENCE!**"

* * *

_Overcome by the carnage, the young Lelouch fell to his knees, not seeing, not hearing._

"_Kill the children." Cyrus told the men, turning to leave. "No witnesses. This shall all happen without incident."_

"_**No.**__"_

_Cyrus turned around to glance back at the corpses and broken children._

_Lelouch had broken like stone, crumbling into sand as he slumped to the ground in horror. _

_Nunnally, however, had broken like glass, and she bore her jagged shards of sanity like daggers._

_Marianne's corpse was launched into the air as dark lightning began sparking around Nunnally. She floated into the air as black sparks began floating around her, cutting away at her clothes as a black skin crawled up her flesh, covering her now naked body up to her chin as the mark of the Geass. Her hair grew longer and wild, turning blonde and sparking with golden electricity as the darkness formed into floating ribbons around her._

_Her eyes opened, cruel and unforgiving as she raise her hands. The black ribbons lashed out, slashing at the guards, tearing their heads from their throats. Grey and Gold armour began to form around her loosely and blood stained the black ribbons she used as weapons._

"_**Not without incident.**__"_

* * *

Lelouch collapsed onto the floor, vomiting. _'Wh-what?'_

"**That was the result of your mother's and your beloved's experiments on your sister.**" Cyrus told Lelouch. "**The Geass of True Intentions and the power of the Distortion World- yet she remains to this day unaware of her own repressed bloodlust, constantly fooling herself of the sick charade that she is a harmless, peace loving little girl that would never hurt anyone.**"

"**N-Nunnally…**" Lelouch gasped, standing upright.

"**And you even believed her.**" Cyrus chuckled. "**Your sister, convinced of her persona, Nemo, killed everyone in that house that night apart from you. Had I not already achieve the Code, I would have lost my own life.**" He rubbed his throat. "**Truly, the perfect sister-**"

"**SHUT UP!**" Lelouch roared, thunder crashing across the scorched sky. "**HOW CAN YOU ENJOY THIS?**"

Lelouch caught his breath. "**How can you enjoy this?**" he asked. "**For one who threw away their emotions long ago, how can you find pleasure in any of this?**"

Cyrus's smile faded, returning to a grim glare. "**You are not one to judge me, child.**"

Lelouch's mouth twisted into a sly grin. "**What happened to Viet, Uncle?**" he asked. "**Where's my other uncle?**"

"**At the bottom of Lake Michigan.**" Cyrus told him. "**Where I killed him.**"

* * *

C.C. landed the articuno she was riding as the rest of Unit Zero, plus more soldiers from other squads in the Black Knights, arrived in the Ruins of Alph. "Zero is in here." She stated. "There are also multiple new allies, including two Rounds, a former Britannian noble, and a teenage girl named Shirley Fenette."

"WHAT?" Kallen shouted. "What's Shirley doing here?"

"Zero has found a method of saving those devoured by the deoxys." C.C. explained. "Unfortunately, due to the circumstances, Shirley was a test case."

"Test case?" Silver asked suspiciously.

"The deoxys got her, Zero saved her." Rivalz deducted. "C.C. just talks like that."

"If Shirley's here, then we'd better hurry," Kallen said. Rivalz nodded, sharing he concern.

She recalled her ho-oh and mounted her Gurren, preparing to lead the attack as C.C. mounted her raikou, Silver his entei, Rivalz his Regirock, and the other knights in the team on their pokémon. "Let's go."

* * *

Emperor Charles Zi Britannia the IV, the ninety-eighth emperor of the Holy Empire of Britannia, smashed the heavy steel door down with his brute strength and sheer rage. "Your highness!" a security guard shouted, running after him.

The Emperor broke his neck with a single back-handed strike. "Be gone plebeian." The Emperor growled, placing two mighty hands on the great stone tomb in the white room. "I have holy matters to attend to."

The surviving guards panicked, then did as the Emperor dictated as the bear of a man wrenched the heavy ornamental lid from the majestic coffin, revealing the corpse within.

The corpse was rotten, but dressed finely. Its skin was taught and decayed, a mouldy green with age. The hair had fallen around the head, and the tongue had shrivelled up.

The Geass in its eyes blazed, and the corpse took a rattling breath as the light faded again.

"**My father.**" Charles the IV said as the corpse's Geass blazed again, buying a second of life before dragging him back into the void. "**I Need You.**"

The Emperor placed a hand on his father's corpse and looked it in the eye. "**Memories… I Need To Change Them.**"

There was a moment of silence, and the guard on the floor grunted and rose to his feet. "Wh-why is everything… backwards..?"

A bony hand rose up and grabbed the Emperor's wrist rightly. "**From… the dusknoir's grasp… the cave of spiritomb… from Giratina's hell…**" flesh returned to bone and the dead Emperor's Geass was empowered by the regenerative effects of the Code his false memories had granted him. "**I have returned to stay, my son.**"

"**Father.**" Charles the IV told Charles the III. "**There Is Evil In This World I Cannot Eradicate Alone.**"

"**Perhaps that is.**" III replied, climbing out of his coffin and walking over to the guard with a snapped neck. "**But first, learn to control your anger.**" He warned, twisting the guard's head back around and sending him to the medical bay. "**You are angry because you are afraid.**"

"**I Fear None.**" The Emperor snarled. "**I Hate My Son For The Evil He Has Become.**"

"**I brought you up to be a good parent.**" The dead Emperor told his son. "**What happened?**"

* * *

"_Sneasel!" a ten year old Cyrus called. "Quick attack!"_

"_Extremespeed Draga!" Viet ordered his dratini. The serpent blurred and struck the ice pokémon in the chest, knocking it down._

"_Get up!" Cyrus barked. "Use icy wind!"_

"_Thunderwave!" Viet shouted, and the dragon paralyzed the sneasel before it could launch its attack. "Finish it with dragon rage!"_

_Purple flames engulfed the sneasel, and the battle was won. "Good battle!" Viet told his brother, running over to the injured pokémon. "__**Hold on.**__" He said, placing his hand on sneasel's chest and healing him._

"_That ability of yours." Cyrus asked. "It's because you're a Viridian Trainer, right?"_

"_**That's right brother.**__" Viet replied. "__**Mother and Father made sure we were born in Viridian Forest so one of us could have this ability.**__" He chuckled to himself. "__**I guess I got it because my Geass is that of Life.**__"_

"_You can make people live." Cyrus stated. "You can heal pokémon's wounds, read their memories."_

"_**It's not like that.**__" Viet stated, standing up and deactivating his Geass. "It's more of connecting our hearts."_

"_Hearts aren't anything special." Cyrus said. "Didn't you listen to Mr. Pryce was teaching us in Biology this morning?"_

"_Well, maybe not the pumps in our chest." Viet giggled. "But, it's something… spiritual."_

_Cyrus looked at his pokémon rubbing its head against his brother's leg. "Come back." He ordered, recalling the sneasel into its pokéball._

"_It's not good to keep them cooped up in there all the time." Viet scolded his triplet brother recalling his dratini. "Come on, let him have some exercise!"_

"_Can you see it?" Cyrus asked his brother, glaring at him. "__**The scenery of doomsday?**__"_

_The lush green grass by the glistening water was quickly replaced by a dead, dried up wasteland. "Hey, what's up with this brother?" Viet asked, looking around, his long blonde hair swishing behind him. "I don't like the world you've shown my this time."_

_Cyrus grabbed his brother by the neck with both hands and slammed him to the ground, his head and shoulders leaning back over a ledge. "B-Brother..!" Viet choked, but Cyrus just dug his thumbs deeper and deeper into his brother's throat._

_Viet gagged, and choked, his arms flailing helplessly against his brother's strength. _

_He scratched at his face, desperately fighting for air._

_His movements slowed, and grew weaker, until he lost all strength and rested his hand on his brother's cheek and mouthed the name of the brother that killed him, before his hand fell to the ground, lifeless and still._

_Cyrus pressed further and further, until his thumbs pressed through the flesh, and warm blood seeped into his palms. He stepped back from his brother's corpse, his blood seeping into the grooves and calluses in his fingers and palms and water dripped from his knuckles._

_The desolate world returned to the lush, green grass by the beautiful lake, his brother's head under the water in a cloud of crimson. The red fluid blossomed under the clear water, like a cloud of gas in a blue sky._

"_Sneasel." Cyrus stated, his bloody hand grasping the pokéball and releasing the pokémon within. "Freeze him, then send him to the bottom of the lake."_

_He picked up his brother's pokémon and added it to his collection as sneasel pushed his brother's corpse into the water. "He fell and an ursaring killed him." Cyrus whispered. "That's what I'll say."_

* * *

"**Pathetic.**"

Cyrus glared at his nephew. "**I am not the only one here that has killed his brother.**" He reminded his fellow murderer.

"**I had a reason.**" Lelouch said. "**I was not a child throwing a tantrum.**"

"**No, you weren't.**" Cyrus glared. "**You were a child masturbating over how clever he was.**"

"**Well, I suppose that makes us both wankers.**" Lelouch countered.

Cyrus's stern face darkened in subtle revulsion. "**When did a prince such as yourself become so common?**"

Lelouch knew the perfect answer to that one.

"**When your brother sent me to live with the commoners.**" Lelouch told him. "**Now…**" he sat upon a suitably sized rock and pulled a pipe from his pocket. "**Tell me about your mother Cyrus.**"

* * *

"Commander Mars!" one Galactic grunt saluted. "Erm, where is your dress..?"

The redhead glared at the man, who quickly averted his eyes before making eye contact. "**Smart move.**" Mars hissed, striding past him and tearing a lab coat from the rack and facing the survivors from Lelouch and Shirley's assault.

"We under attack again." Mars told the troops, buttoning the white coat over her skin-tight bodysuit. "This time by the Black Knights. Prince Cyrus has sealed the previous attackers in the Zero chamber, before the Gate, so we have nothing to fear but those that attack from the front."

She bit her lip. "There is also another enemy within this temple." She reported. "Jupiter, I want you to lead a team of five to find and take this enemy down while I lead the main defence."

"Who died and made you high commander?" Jupiter asked.

"Saturn isn't here and Cyrus is occupied." Mars explained. "And unlike you, my Geass can kill on sight."

Jupiter backed off. "Right, right." She sighed. "Right, you, you, you, and you." She decided, pointing and four men and women. "Come on and find this mystery man. Any description?" she asked boredly.

"His presence." Mars told her. "You'll know it's him because you won't be able to resist. You'll want to kneel before him and smile at your own subservience. I trust your Geass can make killing the bastard easy."

The purple haired commander smirked. "So you didn't leave me the boring task." She decided. "That's good."

* * *

"Damn, we're trapped." Cynthia growled as her garchomp collapsed from trying to escape the sealed room.

"I'm sorry I can't do anything…" Shirley muttered, pulling Cynthia's black coat tightly around her.

"It's fine." Red told her. "Jeremiah said that he's detected the Black Knights, so he'll be back with help any minute."

"But…" Shirley turned around at the white void that had swallowed Lelouch and Cyrus. "Lulu's still in there…"

"Nothing for it." Cynthia decided. "We're trapped with something we don't know what, waiting for help, so all we can do now is wait."

SMASH

Everyone in the room turned to the cloud of dust and rubble from the wall that just exploded.

Out of the darkness, a man began to glow.

He strode out of the cloud, made of blinding white light. He didn't walk, he didn't run, he simply marched into the room and smashed Ash across the face.

"Ashford!" Shirley gasped as he flew across the stone chamber.

"Red!" Cynthia shouted, turning back to the glowing man as the light faded.

"**What the hell…**" the man growled, marching over to Red's body. "**Is this fucker doing with my face..?**"

He picked Red up by the collar and held him into the air. "**MY NAME IS ASHFORD VI BRITANNIA, THIRTEENTH PRINCE OF THE HOLY EMPIRE OF BRITANNIA AND THE KNIGHT OF ONE, GRANDMASTER RED!**" Red shouted at Red. "**SO WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?**"

A tentacle crept out of the broken maw of the Red that was being held into the air. "_Ashford Vi Britannia, Thirteenth prince of the holy empire of Britannia and the Knight of One, Grandmaster Red._" The voice from inside the body growled. "_But most importantly…_"

"The pokédex wasn't picking up Shirley's DNA…" Cynthia realised.

"How could it?" Shirley asked. "My body is more human than deoxys…"

"_I'M RED!_" the voice inside Red's body roared, smashing the shirtless Red back across the room. "_I don't know what the hell you are, but __this world just__ ain't big enough for two of me, punk._"

The Red who just came through the wall rose to his feet, wiping blood from his mouth. "**That's my line you son of a bitch.**"

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

I wanted to end the Cyrus battle on this chapter. I really, _really_ did. But come ON!

Question: Should this story be moved up to the M section?


	38. Love and Fear

Well, I dropped a fair few bombshells last time. Let's see how many I can do today.

First off, the story is now M rank. Second, Marianne experimenting on Nunnally's egg using C.C.'s DNA? That's officially canon, according to the Code Geass side materials.

Evil Heraklinos, don't worry. As this chapter shall suggest, they shall know hell like no other fictional character.

And an announcement. The dots and the bars I use in recent chapters? It's a relatively simple crackable code. Try it, it'll give a whole new edge to this story.

'|||'|'''||'|''|'||'||'''||'||''''|''''''|||'|||'||''|'|''|''''''||'||'|'||''|'|'||''|'|'|||'|''''|''''''||''''|'||''|||'||''''|'||'|''|'||'|||'

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"_Miss Maria?"_

"_Oh, Prince Cyrus." The maid curtseyed. "How may I serve you?"_

_The six year old prince grinned and procured a large daffodil from behind his back. "This is for you!"_

"_Oh!" Maria replied, taking the flower. "Thank you young master." She bowed. "I'm most grateful."_

* * *

_Later that evening, Prince Charles was leading his brothers on an grand expedition through the mysterious tunnels in servants quarters on an epic quest for the Holy Grail before the evil mother monster captured them and imprisoned them in the dungeons of her evil lair in the dark city of Bedtyme._

_Viet winced. "What is it brother?" Cyrus asked his fellow adventurer._

"_Down this corridor, take the third right, second door to the left." Viet explained as he winced again. "Someone's being hurt."_

"_Is it a princess?" Charles asked excitedly. _

"_It's a girl…" Viet nodded as Cyrus led the way. "Come on!"_

_They turned the corner and ran down the corridor as an ear-splitting shriek rang through the stone halls. "Machop!" Charles decided, throwing the pokémon out. "Low Kick!"_

_The machop smashed the heavy oak door down and the boys saw the head butler Klaus beating a young girl with a cane, four tangela holding her to the wall and slashing her back open with their vine whips._

"_Ah, young sirs." Klaus noted, bowing to the young princes. "Please excuse me. I was disciplining this one for her insolence and unnaceptabel behaviour earlier today."_

"_M-Maria..?" Cyrus gasped, seeing the maid stripped to her waist, blood flowing from the wounds across her back. _

"_I apologize for her rudeness earlier today." Klaus continued, bowing to Cyrus. "Next time I assure you that she will thank you correctly."_

"_N-NO!" Viet shouted. "Klaus, let her GO!"_

"_She didn't do anything wrong!" Cyrus shouted._

_Klaus pressed his glasses up his eyes. "All men are not created equal young sirs." He told them. "When a Prince shows favour to a lowly servant, it is the servant's duty to thank the Prince for their favour with all their body. Isn't that right, Maria?" he asked, turning to the broken maid._

"_Y-yes master…" she sobbed. "I… a-apologise for my rudeness… please forgive me…"_

"_Not yet." Klaus replied, recalling his pokémon as the maid slumped to the floor. "You must respond to the Princes favour."_

"_O-of course…"_

_The boys watch in horror as the hollow shell of the maid crawled across the stone floor to the six year old boy Cyrus, and began licking his shoes. "My master…" she whispered, her mouth rising up his legs._

"_**Stop this.**__" Viet told her, resting a hand on her shoulder as she passed out. "__**This is wrong.**__"_

"_**And what will you do?**__" Cyrus asked, glaring at Klaus. "__**What is the punishment for a mere butler to dictate what is right or wrong?**__"_

"_Young sirs?" Klaus asked._

"_**Viet, heal her heart.**__" Charles ordered. "__**I'll make her forget this ever happened. Cyrus,**__" Charles glanced at his brother, Geass meeting his. "__**You decide what he deserves.**__"_

"_**Gladly brother.**__" Cyrus nodded, glaring into the eyes of the butler. "__**I will show him hell.**__"_

* * *

_The next morning, Klaus was found in that torture chamber, having hung himself with his pokémon._

_Maria woke up in the royal doctors office at the request of the princes, with no memory of the night before but feeling happy._

_The three princes, however, all wore eye patches from that day onward, their Geass no longer under their control._

* * *

"**And I'm supposed to sympathise?**"

Cyrus twisted around to glare at Lelouch. "**What?**"

"**My Geass's first Runaway happened just in time for me to accidentally order my sister Euphemia to commit genocide.**" Lelouch told him. "**That was before you tried to kill my mother, and broke my little sister's mind so hard she created a separate personality with the powers of darkness and no problem with slaughter.**" Lelouch glared. "**Then my father exiled me to Japan and declared war on that country. What sympathy do you deserve from me, little man?**"

"**Little man?**" Cyrus asked.

"**Oh, I'm sorry.**" Lelouch smirked. "**Would 'Little Child' have been more appropriate?**"

* * *

Red lunged at Red, who just smirked. "**Let's try this out…**" he muttered, punching into the air with a glowing fist. "**Flash Cannon!**"

A bright surge of energy sent Red reeling back, barely managing to land on his feet.

"_Wh-what are you..?_" Red asked the shirtless man with his face.

"**I should be asking you the same thing.**" The shirtless Red replied with a glare, staring down at the other. "**Deoxys.**"

One Red reached down to his belt and threw blastoise's pokéball at the other. The pokéball bounced off the target, unleashing the cannon turtle from within and blasting the one who threw him.

"**Pokémon know who their trainer is.**" Red told the other as his pokéballs rolled on the floor and released the pokémon within. "**For now, we'll call you Redeoxys.**"

Redeoxys got to his feet. "_Like HELL! I'M RED!_" he roared, unleashing a fist of tentacles at the other. Red caught them in one hand, pulling Redeoxys towards him and driving a fist into its face.

"Wh-what is this..?" Shirley asked.

"A Deoxys was eating Red's corpse when I found it…" Cynthia remembered, her scientific mind quickly deducting what had happened from the new information overloading her brain. "When I killed Red, I sent most of his brain flying out of his body, so that must be where he regenerated from, instead of the original body…" she gulped as Redeoxys drove a spear-like tentacle through Red's chest, only to get a fireball to the chest. "Normally the body would dissolve or something, or maybe Red would regenerate from it, but since Deoxys had taken control over it, he regenerated from the grey matter half-way across the battlefield…"

"Well, why does it think it's Ashford?" Shirley asked.

"His Geass." Cynthia realised as Red opened his mouth and launched a hyper beam as his charizard, venusaur and blastoise used Blast Burn, Frenzy Plant and Hydro Cannon respectively. "Defiance, it makes people submit to him, so it's unconsciously affecting the deoxys, forcing it to believe it's a human being, like how Lelouch's Geass controls you into believing you're Shirley Fenette."

**BOOM**

Cynthia covered her mouth as she realised what she just said. "I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"No, you're right…" The Deoxys with Shirley's face replied, shedding a tear. "I'm not that girl that loves Lulu… I'm a pokémon… that's all I am…"

* * *

C.C. led the charge into the ruins. "Watch out for their experiments!" she warned. "Human-pokémon hybrids are dangerous and need to be control—"

She burst into flame with an ear splitting shriek and fell off the raikou. Silver immediately ordered entei to block the way forward with his flames as Asahina began to burn too.

"Put them out!" Rivalz ordered, sending out his golduck to douse C.C. with water. Kallen, Blue, Silver, Gold and the other trainers all worked to put out the flames engulfing Asahina and C.C., but it was no use.

After a few minutes, Asahina fell to the ground a charred husk, while C.C. kept screaming.

"Spontaneous human combustion…" Blue realised, before glaring around the soldiers. "Kallen!"

"Uh, yes!" she saluted as Silver grabbed hold of her and slammed her against the wall. "HEY!" Kallen automatically signaled Gurren to defend her, but Gurren froze as it saw a .44 magnum in Silver's hand.

Silver gave Kallen a hard look, but froze as he heard a familiar cybernetic whine of machinery. "Let her go." Rivalz warned, his cold titanium hand pressed against Silver's head.

"First, why don't you tell me what this mission is really about." Silver growled. "And why Zero's woman is still alive to scream."

* * *

"That's amazing Commander Mars!" a galactic grunt complimented his superior officer, facing the wall of flames. "The Geass of Blaze is incredible!"

"**The human body is filled with explosive and flammable chemicals.**" Mars explained. "**With eye contact, I can force the target's brain to ignite these chemicals and burn the target alive.**" She grinned. "**Jupiter might be able to make everyone in the room fall to the floor with her Geass of Gravity, but **_**this,**_** The power to burn… THIS! Is Power!**"

* * *

"The power is Geass."

All the Black Knights turned to see Jeremiah Gottswald. "Dunsparce!" Blue yelled, pointing her gun, the rest of the Black Knights quickly following suit.

Jeremiah raised his hands in reassurance. "I am on your side."

"Well then why don't you fill us in?" Silver spat. "What the hell is Geass? And what does it have to do with C.C.?"

Jeremiah sighed. "It is a power granted to some, but its ability varies from user to user. Some can control ones perception of time, another can force the human body to explode. Emperor Charles Zi Britannia can change ones memories to his whim, for example."

"Hey, he's Britannian!" Chiba shouted. "Can we even trust him?"

"My loyalty is to Zero." Jeremiah snapped back at her. "I need not explain myself to you, woman."

"Tell me then, Dunsparce." Silver growled, letting Kallen fall to the floor. "What is the nature of Zero's Geass?"

'_Shit.'_ Kallen thought, realising how Silver would react to the truth.

"The Geass of Absolute Obedience."

* * *

Red rammed his forehead into Redeoxys, before stepping back as Vee formed into umbreon and struck it with an Assurance attack, the Iron Head attack Red had just used doubling Vee's dark attack's power.

Pika launched a Thunder attack as Blastoise brought on the rain with Rain Dance. Poli then used Belly Drum and launched a Waterfall attack on the Redeoxys, smashing it into the wall.

"**COME ON YOU BASTARD!**" Red taunted it. "**No fucker with my face has ANY right to be this pathetic!**"

Redeoxys grunted as it crawled out of the crater, blood flowing from its mouth and chest as it glared at Red.

"**Good.**" Red grinned, bringing an arm out and Taunting Redeoxys to advance through the indoor rain. "**Come at me then.**"

The Redeoxys charged.

Right into Red's fist.

* * *

"So, we're all mind slaves to Zero then?" Blue shouted as C.C. screamed.

"If that were the case…" Kallen wheezed, nursing her neck, "Then we wouldn't even be able to think that."

"If it will help convince you, I shall nullify the effects of all Geass in the area." Jeremiah sighed, spreading his electromagnetic Geass-cancelling field across the room.

Four people suddenly remembered the tasks Lelouch had asked of them, and C.C. fell to the floor, hair burnt off and skin melted into a puddle beneath her as her Code began to heal her wounds.

"And he can only use his Geass once per person, right?" Blue asked Jeremiah, feeling her head. "Well, now that you've unGeassed us that makes us fair game again, but…"

"Bastard…" Silver growled. "He killed my father…"

"Huh?" Blue asked. "You knew that."

"I KNOW I DID!" Silver shouted. "But that bastard Lelouch forced me to forgive him and join the Black Knights!"

"I'll kill her…"

Everyone turned to see C.C. slowly rise to her feet, her skin, hair and beauty restored. "I'll kill that fucking bitch."

"C-C.C.?" Kallen asked, feeling a dangerous air she had never before felt from the calm and untouchable witch.

"I've been burned one too many times." C.C. snarled. "**Never. Again.**"

To the assembled soldiers, she looked like a goddess, a beautiful, terrible soul as she stood upright. Her frown made them quake with fear and at the same time be filled with a rising need to find her enemy and bring them to her knees. Each and every one of them found their knees grow weak, and it was only their shock at seeing C.C. in this new light that stopped them from following blindly as she stepped into the flames separating her from her enemy. Kallen actually had to pull Rivalz back as he unconciously stepped forward.

"I just came…" Blue whispered. "Why did I do that?"

Rivalz quickly glanced around the room. "I think everyone just did love." He told her. "Dunsparce, was your anti-Geass field still up?"

"I put it down so she could heal her wounds." Jeremiah told him. "I think her Geass must have re-awakened."

* * *

"Oh wow…" on grunt gasped at the woman striding through the flames.

"She's beautiful…" his fellow grunt whispered. "And she's… naked…"

Mars glared at the bitch, setting her ablaze with her Geass. "**Not so pretty now, are we?**" she laughed, closing her eyes as the burning woman slammed a fist into her face, launching her across the room.

"**Everyone else apart from this bitch.**" C.C. growled in a rage she hadn't felt in centuries. "**Leave or die.**"

The infatuated Galactic troops didn't need to be told twice. "**Fucking bitch…**" Mars growled, getting to her feet and glaring at the burning woman.

"**Light Screen.**" C.C. commanded, sending out her electrode. The beam of light coming from Mars's Geass bounced off the reflective surface, and right back where it came from.

Mars screeched as she burned. "**And here's the best part.**" C.C. smiled through the pain of being burnt alive herself. "**I've felt this so many times that I just don't care anymore. You, however…**"

The witch kicked the Galactic Commander across the stone halls as they both burnt. "**You're going to die.**"

The flames consuming Mars ceased. "**No…**" Mars growled, standing to her feet as the ashes from her scorched clothes fell around her. "**No, I don't think I can die anymore.**" She smiled, the symbol of the Geass blazing on her forehead.

C.C. grinned through the pain. "**GOOD!**" she screamed, driving another fist into Mars's face.

* * *

"_**In all your years, this has never happened.**__" Lelouch told the Jirachi. "__**Never before have there been so many Deoxys powering the wish. Never before have there been Deoxys you couldn't control. And there has never, ever, ever been a puppet that woke up during the dream, am I correct?**__"_

_The jirachi simply stared at Lelouch. "No." it replied._

_Lelouch smiled smugly. "__**And it hurts.**__" He said. "__**All you want is to give a nice dream to the nice lady, and its gone wrong. Oh so very wrong because of the Deoxys.**__"_

"_It hurts..." Jirachi said. "It hurts so much..."_

"_**I know.**__" Lelouch nodded. "__**But your wishes, your dreams, they are so ephemeral, aren't they?**__" he asked. "__**You can't do anything that lasts forever, can you?**__"_

"_I can make memories." Jirachi said. "Nice memories that can make them happy for a time."_

_Lelouch laughed "__**If only you had a heart.**__" Lelouch paraphrased from Euphies story. "__**Then you too would be loved by the others.**__"_

_Jirachi looked at him in shock as Lelouch crouched in front of him. "__**Did you find your heart?**__" Lelouch asked him. "__**Look at all the hearts you've gathered in this sweet dream. Look at all the people you've made happy.**__"_

"_S-STOP IT!" Jirachi begged, covering its head with its hands._

"_**But me?**__" Lelouch asked. "__**I'm happy without a heart. I know what I am.**__"_

_Jirachi stopped still. "__**So now, you have a choice.**__" Lelouch told the Jirachi. "__**My wish is simple. I want you to answer my questions. Grant my wish, and I can make a world where everyone is happy. You wouldn't have to steal hearts anymore. You could just tell me.**__"_

"_Human…"_

_Lelouch knelt down opposite Jiro. "__**Tell me. What is Zero?**__" _

_Jirachi looked away, then whispered the answer. _

_Lelouch furrowed his eyebrows. "__**That's not possible.**__"_

_Jiro shook his head. "Anything is. Zero shall rise from the world's Code, and reveal the truth in all things."_

"_**And Britannia wants to summon this thing?**__" Lelouch asked._

"_Everyone does." The pokémon shrugged. "Some want it more than others, but none are prepared for the price."_

"_**That's… insane.**__" Lelouch growled, before shaking his head. "__**Alright, tell me about the Code. How does the Geass evolve into it, and how does it evolve again?**__"_

"_The runaways are a test from the Lake Spirits." Jiro explained. "Uxie shall test your Wisdom, Mespirit your Heart and Azelf your Soul. Each test you pass, your Geass shall runaway, until you pass the third test when you regain control. When you have all three blessings, when you die, the Code must seek Mew's blessing. If Mew finds that the three spirits still love you, then you shall evolve a master. __If none of them love you__, then He shall erase you. Do you know how many of the spirits love you?" _

"_**All three of them?**__" Lelouch asked._

"_Yes." Jirachi nodded._

_Lelouch sighed. "__**This makes far too much sense.**__" He complained. "__**This dream world will die soon, won't it?**__"_

"_It should have two more days, but it hurts." Jiro replied, shaking his head. "This… nightmare… only you and milady loved it, so you'll be the only ones to remember this…"_

_Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "__**That's surprisingly decent of you.**__"_

"_Thank you." Jirachi smiled, a green tear leaking out of its eye._

"_**Before I go, it's about time someone granted your wish.**__" Lelouch told the Jirachi. "__**All those millennia serving others simulacrums of happiness is too long for any monster.**__" Lelouch smiled. "__**What can I do for you?**__"_

_Jirachi titled its head as if trying to comprehend the question. "Me?" it asked._

_Lelouch nodded._

_Jirachi smiled bitterly. "Kill me." _

_Lelouch was taken back in surprise. "__**Really?**__" he asked._

"_It's all I want." It nodded._

_Lelouch sighed. "That's what she wanted too, isn't it?" he asked gently._

"_Yes." Jiro replied sadly._

_Lelouch stood up. "I promise to change that wish of hers." Lelouch vowed, pulling out the police-issue handgun from his jacket. "I promise to make her happy."_

"_I know you can grant her wish." The pokémon smiled as Lelouch pressed the barrel to its head._

"_From one __**Monster to another,**__" Lelouch told the Jirachi, activating his Geass with a smile. "__**It has been an honour.**__"_

"_It has been mine."_

_**BLAM**_

* * *

"**This is a worthless memory.**" Cyrus sighed. "**What use has the ramblings of a pokémon?**"

"**This memory is only worthless to those unwilling to listen.**" Lelouch told him. "**Trainers can understand their pokémon without words.**"

"**Pokémon are beasts of battle.**" Cyrus stated. "**Even those abominations that speak the human tongue are but as chatot's- unthinking and existing only to serve.**"

"**Is that why you killed him?**" Lelouch asked. "**Viet's existence proved that you could not connect with your pokémon, and you couldn't accept that?**"

"**That is not why I killed him, child.**" Cyrus glared. "**No one will ever understand my reasons.**"

"**You will never open your heart so we can understand.**" Lelouch corrected. "**You don't want us to understand.**" He chuckled. "**You Geass is one that draws the target into your own little world inside your head, but you don't want to let anyone in.**" he said, his Geass bearing eyes growing brighter, fiercer. "**You can't enter your 'happy place' alone, yet you detest welcoming anyone into your heart.**" Lelouch glared at his uncle, suddenly towering over the much larger man. "**That's why you drag them in here. Here you can search their hearts, try to understand them, while walling off your heart so they cannot understand you.** **Admit it.**" Lelouch grinned. "**I am the first to penetrate your defences and show your memories, aren't I?**"

* * *

The burning C.C. straddled atop the burning Mars, ramming fist after fist into her face as Mars feebly tried to strangle the woman who didn't need to breathe.

The Black Knights and the Galactic's watched in horror, their planned battle forgotten at the horrific scene before them.

"S-shouldn't someone stop them..?" Kallen asked as Mars tore C.C.'s arm from her shoulder.

"**KILL THE INTRUDERS!**"

The Black Knights fell to the floor as Jupiter activated her Geass and her five-man team opened fire upon them. Jeremiah raised his arm and created a barrier to block the bullets mid flight. "Thank you milady." The Dunsparce smirked as the Black Knights returned to their feet. "We had forgotten our purpose for today's battle."

"BLACK KNIGHTS!"

Galactic and Black Knight alike turned to see the red haired young man step out from Jeremiah's shield with entei and raikou by his side. "We have come here. We have seen what this place is."

He grabbed two pokéballs and unleashed his feraligatr and crobat. "_Now let us conquer._"

* * *

**'|''||'|'||||''|''|''''''|||'''''||'||||'|||'|||'||''|'|'|||''|'''||||||**

_Cyrus gazed in horror at the true face of god as it chuckled_

**'|'||''|'||'||||'|||'|'|''|''''''|||'|'''||'|''''||'|''|'||'|||''||'|'||''|''''''|||'|'''||'||||'||'||||''|''''''||'||'|'|||'|'|'||'''||'||'|'''''|''''''||'||||'||''||'''|''''''||||''|'||'||||'|||'|'|'|||''|''|||''||'||''|'|'||'||'''||''||'''|'||''''|''''''|''||'''||'|''|'|||'|'''|||'|'''||'||'''||''|'|''|''''''|''||'|'||''''|'||'|||'**

"_B-but we can help each other!" Cyrus begged the master of the universe. "To render this world into the truth of all things! Isn't that what you want?"_

_The abyss laughed, mocking the little human_

**'|'''|||'|||''|''||'|''|'|||''||'||''|'|'||'||||'|||'|'|'|||''||''|''''''|'''|||'||'|''|'|||''|''||''''|'|||'|'''||'|''|'||'|||''||''''|''|'||''''|''''''||''||''||'|''|'||'|||''||''|''''|''''''|||'|'''||'|''''||''|'|''|''''''||''|'|'|||''|''|||''|''||'||||'|||''|'''|'||''''|''''''|||'|'''||''|'|'||''''|'|||''|'''|''''''||'||'''||'||||'||''|||'||'|''|'||'''||''|''''''||''''|'|||''||'|||'|'|'||'|||''||''|'''||''|'|'|||''|'**

**'|'''''|'||''|'''||''''|'||'||'|'||''''|'||'|||''|||'|''''|''''''|'''|'''||'|''|'||''''|'||'||'''||''|||'||''''|''|'||''''|''''''|||'''''|||''|''||''|'|'|||''||'||''|'|'|||''|''|||'||''||''|'|''|''''''|||'|'''||'|''''||'|''|'|||''||''|''''''|||''||'|||'|'''||''''|'|||'|'''||''|'|''|'||''''|''''''|||''||'||''''|'|||'||''||''|'|''|''''''|||'|'''||'|''''||'|''|'|||''||''|''''''|||'|'''||'|''|'||'||'|'||''|'|**

**'|''||'''|||'|'|'|||''||'|||'|'''|||''|''||'||||'|||'|'|'|||''||''|''''''|'|'''''||''''|'||'||'''||'|'||'||'|''|'||''''|''|'||''''|''''''|||''||'|||'|'''||'||||'|||''''''|''''''|||'|'''||'|''''||''|'|''|''''''|||'|||'||'||||'|||''|''||'||'''||''|''''|'||''''|''''''|||''|''||''|'|'|||''||'||''|'|'|||'|''''|''''''||'||'''||'|''|'||''||''||''|'|**

**'|'''|'|'|||''|''|||''|''||'||||'|||''|'**

**'|'|''||'||''''|'|||'||''||''|'|**

**'|'|''|''||''|'|'|||''||'||''|'|'|||'|''**

"_BUT I DID ALL THESE THINGS!" Cyrus shouted. "Is this not what you wanted as your sacrifice?"_

**'||'|''''||''|'|'|||''|''||''|'|''|''''''||'|''|'|||''||''|''''''||||''|'||'||||'|||'|'|'|||''|'''|''''''|||''|''||''|'|'|||'|||'||''''|'|||''|''||''|''**

_Cyrus looked down as a squirtle wearing a red cape with orange flames and a pair of pointed, orange sunglasses stepped out of the madness before him. "Squirtle squirtle squirtle SQUIRTLE?" it shouted, flames roaring up behind it as it pointed to the sky._

_He then looked down as ultra balls began pouring from his pocket, over a hundred of the balls forcing themselves out of the space in his trousers like water from a fountain. "Stop this!" Cyrus shouted. "You are the one I want!"_

**'||||''|'||'||||'|||'|'|''|''''''||'|||''||''|'|'|||'||''||''|'|'|||''|'''|''''''|||'|||'||''''|'||'|||''|||'|'''||''|'|'||''|''''|''''''|||'|'''||'||||''|''''''|||''|''|||'|'|'||'||'''||''|'|**

_Cyrus fell to his knees, broken. "But…" he gasped as the light began to consume him as he was cast out from this sacred space in hell. "But…"_

* * *

"**Pathetic.**"

Cyrus collapsed to his knees at the memory, and looked up to see Lelouch had replaced the abomination. His nephew towered above him, wrapped in a cloak of shadows and eyes burning like evil suns.

Lelouch did not laugh at Cyrus' fall. He was just disgusted.

"**Where is this squirtle right now?**" Lelouch asked him, walking around the man on his knees. "**What did you do with the prize given to you?**"

"**I… I…**"

"**You cast it aside, like a little child would toss aside the hobby horse his father bought him for Christmas when he wanted a ponyta.**" Lelouch chuckled. "**Any fool could see that that squirtle was a prize like no other, but you, like a childish brat, threw it away in a tantrum.**"

"**No…**I…" Cyrus' Geass sigils faded as he tried to deny Lelouch's words.

Lelouch smiled as the Scenery of Doomsday began to fade around them. "**You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting. ****The Lake Spirits shun you, they deny your right to the Power of Kings and the Right of **Plebeians**.**"

Cyrus began to fade into a cloud of pink blocks. "N-no…" He whispered. "I don't want to go…"

"**And so, at last you show a desire to live, to continue. A hypocrite to the end,**" sighed Lelouch as he walked up to him. "**Regardless,**** I will save you.**" He whispered. "**Just tell me one thing first.**"

"P-please…" a broken Cyrus whispered as his legs dissolved. "A-anything…"

"**Why did you kill Viet?**"

Cyrus hesitated.

Then he answered.

Lelouch stepped back, looking at him in disgust.

"You said you'd save me!" Cyrus shouted.

"**Death is your deliverance.**" Lelouch spat, turning away and leaving him there to fade into nothingness.

* * *

Red smashed Redeoxys through the walls. "**Come on.**" He taunted, striding through the rubble to face his mutating doppelganger. "**You should have known better than to make an enemy out of me.**"

"_No… you're wrong…_" Redeoxys gasped. "_I… Am Ashford Vi Britannia…_"

Red slammed a knee into his throat. "**Keep that name.**" he laughed. "**I am RED!**"

* * *

Rivalz rammed a radioactive palm through three heads as regirock and regice circled around him, smashing the Galactic pokémon down and obliterating the fleshy humans in their wake.

Kallen sped through the ruins on Gurren's back, her vileplume riding alongside her, spreading Toxic powder to the enemy as she gunned down those coming from either side.

Blue slipped through the battle, slicing through heads and limbs alike.

Under Jeremiah's power, none of the Galactic's Geass had any effect.

The powers they had honed, trained alongside their pokémon all this time-

Worthless.

They panicked.

They forgot how to fight without their Geass.

But the Black Knights didn't know this.

All they saw were monsters who could burn them alive with a glare.

There was no mercy.

The Black Knights had no room for mercy.

They were too ignorant of their enemies fear to know any pity.

"It's us or them, kill or be killed."

There was no remorse.

The Galactic's pokémon turned wild as their masters fell.

As the Knights began to run out of human targets, they took their prizes with their snag arms, not that they needed them to catch released pokémon.

In the end, the only one left alive was the burning woman, who continued to fight desperately against the burning witch.

"Seek out the survivors hiding in the rest of the ruins!" Silver ordered. "Clear this place out! Leave no stone unturned! NO SURVIVORS!"

"YES SIR!"

* * *

The light faded in the corner of the circular chamber. "L-look!" Shirley shouted. "T-they're coming back!"

But they didn't.

There was just an empty space.

"L-Lulu…" Shirley gasped, breaking down into tears as Cynthia put a comforting arm around her.

* * *

Red slammed the Redeoxys through the floor beneath where C.C. and Mars were still fighting. "**Oh for crying out loud…**" he sighed, tossing his opponent aside and walking to the two women.

"**OI!**" he shouted, grabbing the two and slamming their burning heads together. "**I like a good catfight as much as the next guy, but do it somewhere with mud and an audience AND WITHOUT YOUR SKIN MELTING OFF!**"

He was slammed back by two burning punches to the face. "Sonuva…" he growled, nursing his singed nose as Redeoxys sprinted out of the ruins. "**OI!**"

"Let it go." Jeremiah told him. "The battle is won." He turned to the battle. "Now to deal with these two." He said. "I can stop the effects of their Geass and put them out, but this young lady will just set them both back alight again."

"**Hey, ****wow, is that you, ****auntie C.C.?**" Red asked experimentally, suddenly recognising one of the fighters as green hair regenerated from the flames momentarily. "**We won, you can stop now.**"

The witch was deaf to his words, thinking only of the witch hunts back in the past and what those bastards did to her centuries ago. The bitch before her would suffer like she did.

Red scratched the back of his head. "Well, I got nothing." He admitted. "Hey, where's Lellow?"

"Master Lelouch?" Jeremiah asked him. "He went to fight Prince Cyrus, but he has yet to return from their mental plane." He raised an eyebrow. "Although, I am impressed." He said. "That fraud of yours showed much greater surprise when he realised that I was now under your loyalty."

"Yeah well…" Red shrugged. "I'm kinda tired. I swam here from freaking China once I figured out what that deoxys was planning with my brother."

Jeremiah laughed. "An impressive feat!" he declared. "I commend you for it."

"Yeah, whatever." Silver pressed a gun to the back of Red's skull. "Now how're you standing around when I saw your corpse land on rock from a great drop?"

Red sighed. "It involves magic, deoxys stealing my corpse, and a hunt for pants." He explained. "Also, Mew apparently."

Silver lowered the gun. "Why do you serve Zero?" he asked. "Isn't yours the Geass of Defiance?"

"Oh, so they're in on this now?" Red asked Jeremiah. Once the former noble nodded, Red shrugged and turned to face him. "Because it's better than wandering the earth with Green or whatever." He answered, before falling onto his backside in a cross-legged position, then curling up on the stone. "Wake me up when those two stop…"

* * *

"_**Why did you kill Viet?**__"_

_Cyrus hesitated._

"_I wanted his dratini." He replied. "That's all."_

* * *

Lelouch looked around the temple on the golden clouds around him and spat. "**Royalty.**" He hissed, turning around to the large stone door behind him. "**Glad I'm out of it.**"

* * *

'_I'm Ashford.'_ Redeoxys thought to itself as it sped across the mountaintops of Johto. _'I'm Ashford. I'm Ashford. I'M ASHFORD!'_

"Then be Ashford."

Redeoxys stopped dead as a gentle hand held its wrist. "_Who…_" it asked as it turned to face the girl behind it. "_Who are you..?"_

"A friend." The beautiful girl told the monster without a heart. "My name is Nemo. I'm your sister. I'll love you." She told it, pulling it into a hug. "If you want me to."

Redeoxys gasped, then closed its eyes, crying as it collapsed into the girl's frail arms. "There there." Nemo told it. "Hush now… I'm here for you… brother…"

"N-Nunnally…" the monster cried.

"No…" the girl corrected it. "My name is Nemo. Nunnally cannot know about you, but you need to protect her when I'm not around, okay?" she asked. "From her evil brothers that want to hurt her, you must defend Nunnally even if she forgives those heartless monsters, okay..?"

"Yes…" Redeoxys told her with a smile. "I won't let them anywhere near her."

Nemo smiled and kissed the monster. "Thank you, Ashford Vi Britannia…"

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Oh.

Yep.

You know, this is actually pretty messed up. This little arc took a while to write. I was going to get this done in one chapter, but I think it deserved the time it got.

Should this remain as a T, or should I increase the rating to M. It'll warn people if its an M, but not as many people will know about it than they would if it was a T…

What do you think?

Know what I think?

All of Cyrus can be summed up in those four words.

_I wanted his dratini._

_**Varanus:**__ Selfish, sociopathic hypocritical nihilist. Still, fun character to play around with while it lasted. Three chapters of mental beatdowns, and he nearly broke Lelouch with the Nemo revelation. But as they say, 'What doesn't destroy you, strengthens you'. Not that Cyrus is in a position to regret it, being wiped from the face of the earth and all._

_Also, finally a big chunk of what Geass is in this universe has been revealed! Wow, took a lot longer than I expected at any rate. So, in summary, it's sort of a 'test' certain Legendaries have created. But for what purpose, that's the next question._

And now for the bad news. My laptop Fubar'd for the final time. Due to the fact that school's almost over and I've pretty much done all my coursework with everything backed up on the school server and my USB, I'm not getting a replacement. The family computer doesn't have Word so I can't open my files, so I'm writing on my mum's laptop when she lends it to me and on school computers in the library despite the fact that I no longer have any lessons.

That's right, I go to school specifically to write new chapters for you guys. Be grateful and don't complain when updates grow fewer and far between.


	39. It's My Turn

Alright, bombshell last time. Let's try to keep them coming.

Wow, it's hard to believe that everything since chapter 28 has taken place in under a week story time. Hell, the Black Knights defeated China and Britannia about three days ago. Lelouch has been busy.

Blah Head, I've worked with kids traumatized by the most unimaginable things. I have seen how they see the world, how they reason, how they think, and what they can do. Trust me when I say that people like Cyrus actually exist.

Raim Hanta, I had to google your name to figure out your identity. Shameless plug, tsk tsk.

Well, I'm in no position to cast the first stone. I couldn't have used chainsaw because there were no chainsaws. You've got axes, you've got Cut, so no need for chainsaws. Which is why Mao used an axe instead of him memetic chainsaw. Same goes for firearms- rifles, pistols, desert pigeot, they all exist. Machine guns with rapid fire? Not so much.

If Cyrus died an epic death, it would have taken away from how pathetic he was. And if you decode what the abyss was saying to Cyrus, you'll forgive everything and declare me the greatest fanfic writer on the earth. Probably. Bhepin and Farla are very very very good.

Patch, I probably could if I tried.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Suzaku collapsed into his bed. It had been a long week, in more ways than one.

Just a week ago, he, Euphemia and Nunnally were planning the renewed SAZ of Japan. That had taken them over two weeks of planning and construction.

In one week, Zero established his own nation, fought a battle against the allied forces of China and Britannia, established a union with the Chinese Federation with himself controlling the figure heads, then had gone onto take the Ruins of Alph from Britannia's research team there.

"Lelouch…" Suzaku sighed. He was evil. He was heartless. He didn't care about the victims of any of his actions, and willingly enslaved people's hearts and minds to further his own agenda.

But even Suzaku had to admit, his former friend got things done.

Suzaku turned his head as the door opened. "Euphie?" he asked, sitting up as the former princess came into his room, covering her mouth and clutching a document. "What is it?"

She pressed the sheet of paper into his hands and Suzaku read it.

His eyes practically burst from their sockets.

"No…" he whispered. "No, he is evil, but he would never do this." He shook his head. "It's impossible, no way!"

"I-It says…" Euphie choked. "He's been sentenced to death…"

Suzaku shook his head slightly. After all he's done to her, how could Euphie find it in her heart to forgive him?

He sighed and put an arm around her. "It'll be fine." He promised her. "He'll get out of this."

"B-but what if he doesn't?" Euphie asked him. "H-he's done a lot of bad things, but he doesn't deserve to be k-killed for something he didn't do!"

Suzaku looked down. He knew how that felt, to be the scapegoat. The wanted criminal deserved death; he deserved it a thousand times over.

But not for this crime.

No one deserved to be falsely accused of this crime.

"Suzaku..?" Euphie asked him.

"I'll do it." Suzaku replied, knowing what she was going to ask. "He won't die for this sin."

He'll die for all the others he's committed.

* * *

SMASH

C.C. flew across the room before rolling back to her feet to catch Mars's next punch between her arm and elbow, then drove a kneecap through her arm, breaking it.

Mars curled over in pain, and C.C. launched a flurry of punches into her opponent's face, sending her flying into the air. Mars twisted and kicked C.C. in the head, sending her flying across the room.

The crowd quickly moved out of the way, averting their eyes for fear of getting hit by Mars's Geass, and C.C. twisted onto her shoulders and jumped into a donkey kick into Mars's face, knocking her to the ground. She landed with a foot either side of Mars's head, then grabbed her charred skull. Dragging her up between her legs, C.C. smashed down on the Galactic admin's head with a headbutt, fracturing both their skulls in her rage.

"**WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?**"

Everyone stopped.

Lelouch strode into the room, enraged. "**Why the hell are two people **_**on fire**_** and fighting?**" he asked. "**Why hasn't anyone put them out and broken this up?**"

Jeremiah used his Geass Canceller to kill the flames engulfing the two women, allowing their flesh time to recover.

Lelouch recognised C.C., and covered his face with his palm in a sigh. "I'm sure that there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this." He sighed. "I'm sure that there is. However, I don't want to hear it. **MARS!**"

The woman saluted out of instinct,, then remembered that she was naked and surrounded by enemies.

Then she remembered that the boy facing her was Zero.

And the only way he could be standing here was if Cyrus…

"**IMPOSSIBLE!**" she screamed, willing her Geass of Blaze to avenge her leader.

There was an explosion half way across the room.

"**No, Mars.**" Lelouch told her, his Geass overpowering hers. "**You are alone, and you have lost. You have two choices. Surrender and become our prisoner, or defect and join our ranks.**"

"**Lelouch!**" C.C. warned him.

"**I'll talk with you later.**" Lelouch told her. "Now why are these women still not covered up?" he asked, walking away. "Silver, Come with me."

"Was that Lulu?" Rivalz asked Kallen. "He's changed a lot for three days."

"You wouldn't believe the half of it."

"Eh?" Rivalz and Kallen asked in unison, turning to the blanketed girl beside them. "Shirley?"

"Yes and no…" she sighed. "It's… complicated."

* * *

Half an hour later, Lelouch returned from the room where he was speaking with Silver alone. No one knew what they spoke of, but it was clear that they had reached an agreement.

Mars was blindfolded and in the white prison uniform of Britannia. C.C. had also donned a spare of this uniform, but had not been secured. She simply stated that she liked how it felt. No one disagreed that it suited her.

Several of the Knights set up a barrier around the ruins. This was Rakshata's latest development based on the Rocket anti-pokémon barrier and bio-engineered Electrodes, the Ruins of Alph were cut off from the outside world through any method other than the Black Knight's teleportation pads.

Well, the Ruins of Alph has been closed to the public for the past few years anyway, so it's not like anyone would know about the Black Knight's new foothold in Johto other than those in direct contact with the now exterminated Team Galactic.

So, after leaving behind a skeleton crew to handle fortifications, everyone returned to Zero City, which was currently under the ocean. Toudou, Ohgi and Diethart were currently in China discussing the UFN, so Chiba was left with Asahina's corpse.

Out of the original Holy Blades, only she and Toudou remained, and Toudou was always officially a separate entity from them. Chiba then took the decision to officially dissolve the Holy Blades.

Gold returned registeel to her, but rather than keep it, she handed the titan to Rivalz. "They all like you so far." She explained, seeing how Asahina's regice immediately went under Rivalz's command. She did, however, keep Asahina's arcanine, dewgong and girafigag for herself to remember him by.

* * *

Jasmine, as well as being the host for Marianne's soul, was Charles Zi Britannia's one hundredth and eighth wife.

It was the perfect cover really. It gave her perfect reason to come to Britannia to visit Charles, yet she was low enough in the 'pecking order' that she didn't need to remain in the palace.

Jasmine was aware of her position as the emperor's wife, but only had a few constructed memories of him.

She wasn't aware that she was merely a proxy for Marianne. No-one other than Charles, Marianne, and her killer was.

Not even Cyrus knew this fact.

So many were surprised to see the Emperor weep at her funeral. He had not even wept at Marianne's funeral, and used the Funeral of Clovis to further his Darwinian propaganda.

Only two men in the entire world knew why he wept, and one of them smiled at this fact.

'_So he is human after all.'_ Lelouch smiled to himself. _'How interesting.'_

* * *

Kallen and Red spoke with Shirley. Her… circumstances were only now beginning to sink in for her.

She wasn't human. She knew that before but after the battle, after feeling the bloodlust craved by the deoxys, by _her_, she was beginning to understand. But the part of her that was Shirley, her memories and her sense of self, they revolted against those thoughts. Nothing could reconcile these two halves of her new born psyche.

Kallen tried to comfort her, Rivalz tried to reassure her, yet there wasn't anything they could do, really. Shirley began to withdraw into herself, trying to shut out contact from her old school friends.

But Red wasn't having any of it.

He grabbed her by the wrist and, ignoring all protests from her, led her to the centre of the island. "Vengeance!" he shouted. "I've got a visitor for you!"

The figure above them opened an eye that glowed blue, before closing it again.

_**You have joined our ranks, Red**_

Red raised an eyebrow as he turned to the substitute of mewtwo behind him. "That's the first time you've ever called me by my name." he said.

_**This is the first time you have had a Name**_

Red raised an eyebrow. "I've been called Red for as long as we've known each other."

_**That was merely a title. Now you have a Name. Your Name is what you ARE**_

"Like your name is Vengeance?" Red asked. "But you're a mewtwo."

_**We are both Pokémon Masters. We may choose our own Name**_

"Isn't a Pokémon Master a trainer who is very good with pokémon?" Shirley asked.

_**Only Mew may decide who is to be a Master**_

"Vengeance." Red said. "This girl needs your help."

_**A Pokémon who believes she is human, yet knows she is not**_

The simulacrum of mewtwo nodded, then placed a hand on Shirley's face. Her skin exploded, revealing a mass of tentacles that slid straight out of her dress. "Shirley!" Red shouted.

_**Which side do you wish to live on?**_

"_Wh-what..?"_ The deoxys called Shirley asked Vengeance

_**Human or Pokémon**_

_**Idiot Man or Wise Beast**_

_**I can only help one side of you, but that one side shall become as Red**_

"_Wh-what do you mean?"_ Shirley asked.

_**Choose**_

Shirley nodded, gulping down the tentacles that served as her throat.

She made her choice

Vengeance smiled.

It was the right one.

* * *

Lelouch sat on the bed, looking across the room at C.C.

A lot had changed since they last saw each other.

He had changed. He knew it. She knew it.

His perspective on her had changed. Twice. He had seen her at her most vulnerable, at her coldest, and now when she had discarded all her barriers and defences and just charged in, ignoring her pain, thinking only of killing her foe.

It was an eye opener.

He didn't know how to react to all this.

He supposed that he would wait to see how she would treat him after all this first.

Apparently, she was going for the same tactic.

They had been at this stalemate for twelve and a half minutes already, but soon one of them would crack.

'_What's to crack?'_ one of them thought. _'What's to hide? You know what's happened. I know what's happened. You know I know what's happened.'_

'_So why the cold war? Why don't I just come out and say it?'_

"You called me Cera." C.C. asked Lelouch, after thirteen eternal minutes of silence. "Why?"

Lelouch smiled to himself. Time for a riddle.

"Because I brought home the wrong pizza."

The witch smiled slightly. It was a good answer.

* * *

Nunnally ignored the pokéball hidden in the cushion of her chair. More accurately, she didn't want to be aware of it.

She refused to be aware of it.

But she was. And it haunted her mind with its very presence.

She was tired too. Her head ached on many occasions, and she was beginning to suffer from malnutrition, no matter how heartily she ate.

The doctor told her she was suffering from the stress from her role as the Governor. Nunnally replied that regardless, she must work as her predecessors have done before.

Indeed, she had to work harder than those before her.

Nunnally recently managed to force through a new law that, among other things, forbade Britannians from beating Elevens in the street. She was not previously aware of such events taking place, but she had felt the hands of one noble in a meeting and learned of his violent pastimes.

Ever since she could remember, Nunnally could feel the intentions of those whose skin she touched. If she concentrated, she could even scan through their memories. She did not know why this was the case, but she believed that in taking away her sight, Shaymin had granted her a new power, one that she was thankful for in her work. She could sense more lies through touch than others could through sight.

Eventually, the nobles and others around her grew aware of this ability, and some grew to refuse the little girl's touch. Of course, as the disguised Euphemia would point out, only those with something to hide would refuse Nunnally's test, so those who recoiled from Nunnally's slender hands were instantly identified as liars, whether they were doing so or not.

Nunnally's biggest shock, however, came when she brushed Suzaku's hand by accident one day.

* * *

Lelouch looked through the digital image of the roof of the Sistine Chapel using his school's database. "Huh." He said to himself. "She really was painted in here."

C.C. came out of the bathroom and looked over Lelouch's shoulder. "Oh, that." She said. "Michelangelo was a jealous man."

"Hm?" Lelouch asked, leaning back to look at the witch.

"I had a contract with Leo at the time." C.C. explained. "He was brilliant, but he had no focus." She sighed. "A strategist like yourself won't understand, but Leonardo da Vinci was good at everything, and his Geass was that of Understanding." She smirked to herself. "He had a thirst for knowledge like your thirst for power, but his appetite was insatiable. It consumed him, and he began only to see what _Could Be_, blinded to what was. Michelangelo was a good twenty years younger than him, and kept telling me to leave that madman of mine and marry a sane painter." She laughed. "What kind of sane man spends four years painting a _ceiling_?"

"It is a very nice ceiling." Lelouch argued, before his brain catching up to this new information. "I thought Michelangelo was a homosexual."

"He was." C.C. nodded. "That didn't stop him though."

Lelouch laughed. "Geass of 'Being Loved', huh?" he asked.

C.C. furrowed her eyebrows. "You know about that then."

Lelouch turned around in his chair away from the computer. "When I was battling Cyrus, I saw certain memories of yours that he saw." He explained. "That nun was a real nutjob."

C.C. stood up. "She was also the one person who cared about me." told him angrily, before her expression softened and she leant against the wall. "No… no he didn't after all…"

Lelouch fell silent. He was aware of the scars she carried, even if he couldn't fathom the depth of them, nor how much they hurt.

He remembered his promise to Jirachi, and wondered how he could possibly fulfill it. How he could change her wish…

After a few minutes, C.C. broke the silence.

"Your computer's beeping."

Lelouch span his chair back and looked at the screen. "My student account has been deleted from the school server…" he explained, typing as he tried to work around it. "I've been expelled from Ashford Academy… but why?" he asked. "We've been friends of the Ashford's for years… even if Britannia made a personal attack on me; Milly would still let me in as a personal favour if I was in trouble…"

Red smashed the door in. "**Lelouch you son of a bitch…**" he growled.

Lelouch laughed, turning to face his brother. "That's no way to talk about our mothe—"

SMASH

Lelouch landed on the floor, jaw broken. "ASHFORD!" C.C. shouted, only to be knocked back by Red.

"**Stay out of this auntie.**" Red growled, a crimson aura surrounding his body. "**This bastard killed mom.**"

Lelouch righted his mouth. "What the hell?" he shouted, standing upright. "Who told you that?"

Red glared at his brother in hate. "**How the fuck are you talking with a broken jaw?**"

* * *

Silver sat around the conference table in Zero's chair, in a video conference with Toudou, Ohgi, Diethart and Xing-ke. Princess Kaguya sat at the table with him, as did Rivalz and Kallen. Empress Tianzi was here too, visiting her good friend Kaguya.

"Gentlemen." Silver told them. "I assume that you are aware of the document that has been spread across the world by now?"

_\_ "Lelouch Vi Britannia, A.K.A., Lelouch Lamperouge, Zero, is hereby wanted by the Britannian Court of Justice to be tried for the crime of murder. He is guilty for the deaths of Empress Marianne Vi Britannia, Empress Jasmine Et Britannia, Cyrus Zi Britannia, Princess Cornelia Li Britannia, Prince Clovis La Britannia, and many more deaths outside the royal family of the Holy Empire of Britannia." _\_ Ohgi read. _\_ "The face Zero revealed to us those weeks ago fits the photograph in the document, but the fact that he's Zero is surprisingly underplayed." _\_

_\_ "It's a smear campaign." _\_ Diethart sighed. _\_ "Politicians use it all the time. Lelouch, whether he is indeed Zero or not, has a lot of skeletons in his closet, and does indeed come across as the very kind of Britannian noble that Zero would kill." _\_

"What are you suggesting?" Kaguya shouted. "That we kill him because of what Britannia _claims_ that he's done?"

"That isn't the issue that concerns me." Silver said. "The problem lies with the origin of the document itself."

_\_ "You doubt its authenticity?" Toudou asked.

Silver shook his head. "That's not what I meant by 'Origin'." He said. "The document was written and sent from Zero City itself."

* * *

"It appears that someone has taken action against this child before you could." The new Knight of One told his son, Charles Zi Britannia the Fourth.

"Indeed." Charles said. "And it would appear that this mysterious ally of mine is within the ranks of my enemies."

"Do not be so presumptuous to assume that the enemy of thy enemy is thy friend." The immortal Charles Zi Britannia the Third warned his successor. "You know nothing of this person."

Charles grunted. "We shall see, dear father." He replied. "It matters not- so long as the boy is no longer able to interfere with the summoning of Zero."

* * *

Lelouch was strapped into the white prisoners straight jacket, blindfolded and plunged into the dungeons below. "Well…" The blindfolded Mars in the cell next to him chuckled. "Fancy seeing you here."

Lelouch snarled at the only Galactic survivor, but ignored her as he heard footsteps enter the cell.

"Lelouch." The Black Prince turned on the floor to face the source of the voice. Silver Laguada stood before him in the majestic armour of Zero, glaring down at his former leader.

"Your execution shall be at dawn." He told Lelouch, donning the mask. "_Zero shall live on, and you shall die by my hand, just as promised. This will keep the Black Knights from collapsing, and they shall not be betrayed by the knowledge of Zero's true identity. Britannia shall fall._" The new Zero declared, turning around and walking away as C.C., strapped in her prison uniform and her eyes covered, was thrown in beside them. "_I assure you that._"

Lelouch knelt upright, glaring at the direction of the new Zero's footsteps despite not being able to see.

"Well, I suppose that this is your first time being executed." C.C. told the other two. "Don't worry, you get used to it after the first hundred times."

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Gasp, mystery.

Next time is the 40th chapter. It shall be epic.

And the Deviation shall continue. Don't worry about that.

_**Varanus:** At this point I doubt anyone doesn't think things will continue to deviate. Fun times!_


	40. The Execution of Lelouch Vi Britannia

This chapter shall change the story forever. Just a heads up.

Those that are collectively Heraklinos, funny you should mention me being an interrogator, considering what my first novel will entail.

C.C. and Mars are both Codes, so their burning flesh regenerated as they fought. Compare how they acted compared to Asahina.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_\_ "Ladies and Gentlemen." _\_ Buena declared from the TV station. _\_ "In just a few short moments we will be broadcasting the public execution of the demon prince of Britannia, Lelouch Vi Britannia, the eleventh prince and seventeenth heir to the Britannian throne." _\_

_\_ "There is no need to make this exiting Buena." _\_ the stern Professor Rowan beside her scolded. _\_ "Foul monstrosity of the man he may be, at least let him die with dignity." _\_

_\_ "He murdered his own mother and siblings!" _\_ Professor Elm countered. _\_ "AND he impersonated the revolutionary Zero for his own terrorist agenda!" _\_

_\_ "Yes, that's right." _\_ Buena nodded. _\_ "Britannia has recognised Zero City as a separate and legal country, with Zero as its ruler." _\_

_\_ "Ruler and hangman." _\_ Rowan growled.

_\_ "Well, yes…" _\_ Buena laughed sheepishly. _\_ "Zero himself will be carrying out the execution of Lelouch Vi Britannia via beheading live in just a few moments." _\_

_\_ "Remember children." _\_ Rowan growled. _\_ "This is an important moment in history, so when mummy tells you to cover your eyes, remember to peek through your fingers." _\_

_\_ "I-I take it that you aren't pleased by the current events, P-Professor Rowan?" _\_ Elm asked him.

_\_ "Beheading in this day and age on a live broadcast throughout the world…" _\_ Rowan shook his head. _\_ "There are less barbaric ways to execute a murderer." _\_

_\_ "And we now go live to Spear Pillar!" _\_ Buena hastily declared, quickly changing the subject before someone was arrested for heresy.

* * *

Lelouch was forced onto his knees on the stone floor as the red light from the rising sun spilt through the wide, stone walls of Spear Pillar.

His execution date was delayed a few days so it could take place here, at this place, on this date, as per the request of Emperor Charles Zi Britannia.

Whose image was now shown to Lelouch on the large monitor before him.

_\_ "Lelouch." _\_ the large man taunted. _\_ "Once More You Kneel Before Me, Your Life In My Hands." _\_

"**BASTARD!**" Lelouch shouted desperately at him. "**You KNOW I didn't kill mother! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?**"

"Oh, I Know Exactly What You Did, Boy." The Emperor chuckled. "As Do Those Behind You."

Lelouch twisted his neck around to see seven Zero's standing behind him- the armoured Zero that fought Guilford with a metapod, and four more in non-uniform uniforms. All of them were masked, all of them clearly Zero in their own way.

Lelouch was dressed as Zero himself, though lacking the helmet and with his arms chained behind his back.

"_**Lelouch Lamperouge.**_" The armoured Zero before him stated. "_**I gave you the mask of Zero one year ago so you could lead my revolution.**_" It shook its head. "_**At the crucial time, you fled the battlefield, and now your other crimes have come to light.**_" You could feel Lord Zero's eyes tighten behind the mask. "_**Liar. Traitor. Murderer.**_"

Lelouch looked around desperately. All the camera crew, the security team, they were all wearing masks that covered their eyes- his Geass could not affect them. Just in case, Jeremiah stood there also, spreading the effect of his Geass Nullifier around the sacred temple.

_\_ "I Was Surprised, However, At This Revelation." _\_ Emperor Charles smirked. _\_ "That Zero Was A Cult All Along?" _\_

"_No._" one Zero stated in Silver's distorted voice. "_This is our revolution. This is who we are."_

_\_ "And Even Among You, You Cannot Stand Those Who Lie For Their Power." _\_ Charles smiled. _\_ "Lord Zero?" _\_

"_**That is I.**_" the armoured Zero stated.

_\_ "Come To Me In Pendragon Palace After This Is Through." _\_ the Emperor chuckled. _\_ "We Have Much To Discuss Concerning The Release Of Your People. The Japanese, Was It?" _\_

"_**We intend to release all the numbers, Britannia.**_" Lord Zero told him. "_**This execution is not a political bond of friendship.**_"

_\_ "Indeed It Is Not." _\_ Charles replied with a smile. _\_ "Well Then. Let Him Die." _\_

"**N-No…**" Lelouch gasped in panic. "**No this IS NOT HAPPENNING!**" he shouted. "**I AM ZERO! I AM THE **_**ONLY**_** ZERO! THERE WAS NO SOCIETY! I DID IT ALL MY—**"

"_Silence, traitor._" The Zero with samurai shoulder blades and a katana stated, kicking Lelouch in the shoulders to knock him to the floor. "_No one needs to hear any more of your falsehoods._"

"**LISTEN TO ME!**" Lelouch shouted. "**Right now, Britannia is conspiring to summon a pokémon so destructive that it will render the entire world in chaos! I'm the only one who can stop it. If you kill me now, everyone is doo—**"

"_**We don't want to hear it.**_" The Zero in the blue robes and red cape growled, stamping on Lelouch's throat. "_**Every world out of your mouth is a lie, Even to your own brother!**_"

"**A-Ashford…**" Lelouch wheezed at the Zero towering over him. "**P-please… listen… to… gurk…**"

"_**That's enough.**_" Lord Zero declared as Zero began twisting his foot into his brother's neck. "_**We cannot allow the criminal to die before his execution.**_"

"**COULD ANY OF YOU HAVE DONE IT?**" Lelouch shouted after a sharp intake of breath. "**Could any of you, you backstabbing cowards hiding behind your masks, who of you could have started the Black Knights? Who among you could have fought as I did?**"

The black and gold Zero stepped forward and grabbed Lelouch by the scalp and dragged him back to his knees. "_You did as you were told._" He told Lelouch. "_Anything else is a petty attempt to hide your crimes._"

"_**You are no hero, Lelouch Vi Britannia.**_" Lord Zero declared. "_**You're just a little child who didn't get what he wanted.**_" He laughed. "_**And you actually thought that the crimes you committed were in the name of **_**Justice**_**? You don't know the meaning of the word.**_"

Lelouch glared at them all, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself.

_\_ "Think, Lelouch." _\_ Charles Zi Britannia gloated. _\_ "Scheme And Scheme Away, Plan And Deceive, But No More Can You Deceive Yourself Around The Truth Of This World." _\_

"**Truth?**" Lelouch asked. "**You know nothing of the word.**"

Lelouch turned to glare at the screen showing his father's face. "**The power to change memories. To deceive people's perceptions of the world, ****that is how you make your subjects dance, and yet you condemn me for my lies? Y****ou're no bearer of truth.**" Lelouch smirked. "**You're just hiding behind a persona of power so no one can remember the little boy that couldn't save the princess in time.**"

Charles glared. _\_ "What Do You Know, Boy?" _\_

Lelouch's smirk widened as he spoke.

"**'|'''|||'|||''|''||'|''|'|||''||'||''|'|'||'||||'|||'|'|'|||''||''|''''''|'''|||'||'|''|'|||''|''||''''|'|||'|'''||'|''|'||'|||''||''''|-**"

Charles choked in horror and stood from his seat. _\_ "SILENCE HIM!" _\_

Lelouch sneered at his father, realising that he'd got what he wanted.

"**Perhaps I'll say it in English so everyone may hear?**" Lelouch asked. "**Because anyone who can see your face can tell that this is no lie.**"

_\_ "**I ORDERED YOU TO SILENCE HIM!**" _\_ the emperor bellowed.

But the Zero's wanted to hear this. This was interesting.

"**Griseous Giratina,**" Lelouch translated as the emperor screamed at them to silence him. "**Find the error, tear logic asunder. Adamant—**"

"_It is time._"

Lelouch looked to the east in horror as the sun came into view.

"**JEREMIAH!**" Lelouch shouted in despair. "**YOU VOWED YOUR LOYALTY TO ME, RIGHT?**"

"My loyalty is to Marianne, murderer." Jeremiah growled with scorn.

Lelouch gritted his teeth as the Zero that was Toudou drew a katana and knelt to Lord Zero, offering the blade. "**C.C.!**" Lelouch shouted. "**SHIRLEY!**"

"_**They are not coming.**_" The Zero that was Red stated. "_**No one is coming for you. You shall die here.**_"

Lelouch snarled. "_**SUZAKU! AREN'T WE FRIENDS?**_"

"_Why would a betrayed friend help you now?"_ the white Zero asked as Lord Zero approached Lelouch menacingly. "_Everyone that ever trusted you has realised what you truly are. Even Nunnally regrets you."_

"**N-Nunnally…**" Lelouch gasped, shedding a tear as Lord Zero raised his blade.

Lelouch bowed his head, staring into the ground, the picture of despair.

Then he smiled.

Then Lelouch spoke.

"**'|'|'|'''|||'|'|'|||''|''||'|||''||'''|''||''''|'||'''||'||'|'||''|''''''|||'|'''||'||||''|''''''|||'||''||'||||'||'|''|'||''|''**"

* * *

Darkness spilt from the triangular tile Lelouch was kneeling upon. Everyone apart from the prisoner backed away from it as Lelouch laughed.

_\_ "I, I'm not sure what we're seeing here." _\_ Buena reported. _\_ "But it seems that the Black Prince had something up his sleeve after all!" _\_ she turned to Rowan. _\_ "What did he just say?" _\_ she asked him. _\_ "Did you recognise that language?" _\_

_\_ "No…" _\_ Rowan replied, shaking his head. _\_ "That was no human tongue." _\_

_\_ "A student of mine once recorded sounds emanating from the walls in the Ruins of Alph." _\_ Professor Elm reported. _\_ "We determined that these were the sounds of the unown, but it should be impossible for a human to speak it." _\_

_\_ "Are you suggesting that Lelouch just spoke the language of ancient pokémon?" _\_ Rowan asked, his neck twisting around sharply.

_\_ "Not just once, but twice." _\_ Elm nodded. _\_ "During his exchange with the Emperor, he spoke something else in their language, but no human has been able to decode it before. Well, obviously the Emperor and the Prince have, but…" _\_

_\_ "What is that?" _\_ Buena asked desperately.

The two professors postponed their discussion and returned to the images of the scene at Spear Pillar. Inky darkness was pouring out of the earth around Lelouch as the Black Knights and their pokémon rushed to stop him somehow. Before they could react, the darkness shot forward as black tentacles tipped with bloody claws, lashing around like a dark whirlwind to knock them away. Giratina rose from the abyss and lifted up Lelouch, breaking his bonds as the Black Prince laughed.

_\_ "**BEHOLD MY POWER WORLD!**" _\_ Lelouch roared from atop his pokémon as the darkness and shadows swirled around him. Giratina howled in outrage, and each of its claws unleashed its power. _\_ "**I, Lelouch Vi Britannia, command you! DIE!**" _\_

* * *

The blast sent everyone flying. No-one was left standing after that attack.

But eight red chains shot out from the corners of the temple, four from the floor and four from the ceiling, crossing around Giratina and trapping it under their power.

Lelouch abandoned the pokémon, leaping from its back and taking the katana from Lord Zero, running down the steps as those around him regained consciousness while Giratina was dragged back into the void from whence it came.

"Fire to kill!"

Lelouch glared at the firing squad prepared to stop him. "**Do everything in your power to aid my escape!**" he ordered the men, their masks removed to aim their weapons.

They each raised their weapon to the ceiling and formed a corridor for Lelouch's escape. "Yes! Your highness!"

Lelouch grinned and ran past them, sheathing the katana behind his cloak and taking two handguns from the guards under his control.

"_LELOUCH!_"

Lelouch turned around and fired the guns at the masks of the Zero's chasing him, cracking them open and exposing Ohgi and Toudou. "**Aid my escape!**" he ordered, planting a Geass into each one. "**Stop the other Zero's from following me!**"

"Yes sir!" they shouted, turning around to tackle Silver and Red as they came down the steps.

Lelouch turned and ran down the stairs through Spear Pillar, fighting his way through the various guards until he reached Mount Coronet.

"Hold it there."

Lelouch stopped as he felt the knife against his throat and the metal hand at his temple. "Kallen. Rivalz." He smiled, dropping his hands to his side. "So you both came for my execution too?"

He glanced at the two through the corner of his eyes. Both were prepared to kill him, but both were also considering helping him escape.

But which one to talk to first?

Of course. Both.

"Well, thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt," Lelouch chuckled. "Where would I be without you two?"

For a split second, Kallen and Rivalz flinched at the guilt they felt at Lelouch's words. At that moment, their guard was down.

Lelouch fired a shot from each gun, creating a hole in each trainer's foot. They recoiled to the ground in pain, before realising that they just let him escape. "Bastard!" Rivalz shouted, getting to his feet before falling over.

Kallen grabbed one of her pokéballs. "GURREN!" she shouted, releasing her scizor and climbing aboard. "After him!"

The Gurren nodded, charging at his previous master while carrying his new master. Lelouch turned around and ducked under scizor's claw, reversing the grip of his two guns, like he was carrying tonfa. He brought his arms close to his head as he weaved around Gurren's next punch, then barely dodged Kallens knife before swinging out and smashing his handgun into Gurren's eye, knocking it over.

Lelouch lifted his leg and kicked Kallen from her mount. "Sorry about this." He apologised with a smile, dropping one gun and catching the safari ball.

It glowed briefly as the snag machine changed the owner data for the pokémon, and Gurren became Lelouch's.

"No…" Kallen gasped as Lelouch mounted the red insect and sped away. "GURREN!" she cried, reaching out after her pokémon, unable to stand.

* * *

_\_ "Dammit!" _\_ Rowan shouted. _\_ "What's happening in there?" _\_

_\_ "Um, our camera crews are pursuing the escapee alongside the military," _\_ Buena explained sheepishly. _\_ "But we don't know for sure where he- we've found him?" _\_

The three presenters turned around at the back screen to see Lelouch riding the fastest scizor the professors had ever seen. _\_ "How did he catch that?" _\_ Elm asked. _\_ "Even if he had a snag machine in his Zero uniform, he'd need a pokéball to catch it!" _\_

_\_ "Red once told me that he boxed with scyther every morning." _\_ Rowan explained. _\_ "He jokingly said that he did it instead of shaving, but if Lelouch had mimicked this as a training exercise, then his reflexes and physical speed would be incredible. If he's as smart as they say he is…" _\_ Rowan leaned forward in his chair. _\_ "Then I can see how he could strike a scizor at its weak point and force it into submission, even a highly trained one such as this." _\_

_\_ "Amazing…" _\_ Buena gasped. _\_ "If he's that dangerous, it makes you wonder why they didn't just shoot him?" _\_

_\_ "Because Britannia wanted to make an example of him." _\_ Rowan replied sternly. _\_ "Show the masses what happens when you defy their power. Well, this is what happens when you keep on defying them, world." _\_ he glared darkly. _\_ "Even if they capture him now, if they kill him, all people will see is a gallant martyr who opposed them to the very end. He will be like Toudou was for the Elevens, or Hitler for the National Socialist movement in the European Union." _\_

_\_ "You mean, either way, Lelouch has won?" _\_ Elm asked.

_\_ "Psychologically, yes." _\_ Rowan nodded. _\_ "However, he will not escape the mountain. He has nowhere to run." _\_

* * *

Lelouch guided Gurren around hairpin turns at breakneck speeds, dodging bullets and pokémon attacks alike.

Red leapt down the rock face and blocked off Lelouch's path, smashing a blazing fist into Gurren. The scizor buckled over, sending Lelouch flying. Lelouch twisted in the air, skidding across the dirt as he landed, recalling Gurren into its ball and drawing his gun and firing at his brother.

The bullets bounced off Red's body as his skin became metallic. "So, you've become like Suzaku." Lelouch smiled, tossing the empty gun aside. "Want me to tell you something interesting, brother?"

"**Lelouch…**" Red snarled, his hands beginning to glow.

"**Listen to me! Hear me out, just this once!**" Lelouch cried, his Geass blazing to life. Red slowed down, and Lelouch held back a smirk, seeing his Geass order had taken effect. '_Your Geass of Defiance will refuse any order I could give that you don't want to obey…'_ Lelouch thought to his brother._ 'But you'll obey this one, because deep down inside you want to believe this is all some sort of joke, don't you?_'

"**Well? Care to fill me in, then?**" Ashford asked. "**Something like,**** how you killed mom?**"

"Like what mom did to Nunnally." Lelouch replied, walking towards his brother. "How little she actually cared about us, and the fact that she possessed Jasmine with her Geass." He put his hand on his brother's shoulder and leaned towards him, his voice lowering. "She's used us, as if we were disposable. They both just sacrificed us for their own benefit. You can't call a woman like that a mother."

Red's eyes widened as he remembered his Geass warning him about Jasmine a month ago. "What..?" he whispered into his brother's ear.

Lelouch smirked, snatching a pokéball from his brother's belt as he pushed him down the mountainside. "**Charizard!**" Lelouch roared, the pokémon becoming his. "**Fly!**"

The pokémon was stuck down as Pika launched a burst of lightning on the dragon, having leapt up from Red's cloak. Lelouch scowled, then ran along the mountain path only to be blocked by a bulky machamp.

Lelouch laughed, looking at the trainer emerging from a hidden crevice in the mountain wall, who was glaring down at him coldly. "Green Oak! It's an honour!" Lelouch said. "You've picked a fine time to enter this war!"

"This ends here." Green told Lelouch from behind his mirrored sunglasses, drawing a rifle and pointing it at Lelouch's neck.

Lelouch twisted around and forced the gun upwards, the bullet ricocheting from the crest on machamp's head and embedding itself into the rock as the Black Prince drove a palm into Green's chin.

Green blocked, driving his forehead into Lelouch's nose, bringing him to the ground. He readied his aim as Red burst up from the cliff face below and drove Green into the rock.

"**GO!**" Red shouted, launching a ball of energy at machamp. "**You owe me answers, Lellow.**"

"You'll get them." Lelouch replied with a smile, wiping his bloody nose and running.

* * *

_\_ "D-did I just see that?" _\_ Elm shouted. _\_ "Did Red just turn traitor?" _\_

_\_ "They must have a very important agreement, for Red to consider Lelouch an ally after he pushed him off the cliff." _\_ Rowan stated. _\_ "But how did he recover in time to climb up that quickly?" _\_

_\_ "There's nothing Red can't do." _\_ Buena sighed, tilting her head into her hand. _\_ "He's so amazing…" _\_

Lelouch skidded down the mountainside and leapt as Brandon flew in on his moltres. Grabbing the blazing bird's beak, Lelouch flipped and kicked Brandon in the face, knocking him off his mount.

_\_ "Holy…" _\_ Elm gasped. _\_ "But, why did he grab Brandon's hand instead of letting him fall?" _\_

The Pyramid King sent out his zapdos and jumped to it after exchanging words with Lelouch. _\_ "The damned prince has talked another one around…" _\_ Rowan realised. _\_ "Does anyone have an audio on that last scene?" _\_

The result was negative as Lucy swooped past Lelouch on her tropius and began to attack the Britannian soldiers stationed on the mountainside.

_\_ "How does he do that..?" _\_ Elm asked. _\_ "Does he have satan's silver tongue or something?" _\_

The cameras zoomed in on the Black Prince, laughing as the moltres he was riding bathed the soldiers below in flames, when suddenly a flash of white appeared behind him. Lelouch didn't have time to react before the white Zero, Suzaku, pulled his head back and sank a moonstone longsword through the Black Prince's skull, the blade exiting the body through Lelouch's jaw. The boy's mouth opened and the end of Lelouch's tongue fell out where the blade severed it.

Elm, Rowan and Buena recoiled in shock at the scene just shown.

The tongue wasn't silver.

The tongue was red.

Blood red.

_\_ "Thankfully, he doesn't have the devil's luck…" _\_ Rowan managed after a few seconds.

* * *

Suzaku pulled his blade out of Lelouch's head. _'I'm sorry Euphie…'_ he thought mentally, standing atop moltres as Lelouch's corpse fell to its knees. _'I wanted to help him, but I had to do my duty…'_

Suzaku was shocked to feel his hands shaking violently, his throat becoming constricted as realization dawned on him. _'Lelouch… Why did it have to come to this? You asked for help before… despite everything… did you still see me as a friend?'_

He sighed, letting himself calm down. _'Whatever the case may be, it's over now…'_

A chill went up his spine as he felt a deathly grip around his belt.

"**Su… za… ku…**"

* * *

_\_ "Th-that's impossible…" _\_ Rowan gasped.

_\_ "N-no way…" _\_ Buena managed, a cold sweat soaking her back.

Elm couldn't take it, sliding out of his seat to vomit on the floor.

_\_ "**I told you… didn't I…?**" _\_ Lelouch Vi Britannia choked, blood flowing down his head as he rose to his feet. _\_ "**If injustice in this world… shall pose as angels… then I shall become a demon…**" _\_

He turned around and grasped Suzaku by the shoulders, looking at him in the eyes as Suzaku stared back in terror.

Lelouch whispered something to the knight, before driving a kneecap into his gut, an elbow into his back as he buckled over, then kicked Suzaku from Moltres's back.

* * *

"**Not even death can hold me!**" Lelouch declared as the Knight's articuno and zapdos began flying around him. "**I shall begin my rebellion anew! The WORLD shall tremble before my might!**" he roared, rising into the air with wide arms as he tore off the cloak of Zero and threw it to the ground.

Thunder cracked across the sky as storm clouds gathered, blackening the beautiful morning sky and forcing all to marvel at the man who rose from the grave.

"**BRITANNIA!**" Lelouch roared as a black portal appeared before his feet. "**BEHOLD! YOUR NEXT! **_**EMPEROR!**_"

With that promise, he stepped into the blackness.

* * *

Charles smashed the monitor before him in rage, as a fax began printing a document by his throne.

He tore off a sheet in rage and scanned it, before his eyes widened in horror.

All of them… Every single one…

Had the opportunity to be under Lelouch's Geass.

Charles tossed the sheet aside. Jeremiah would never forgive Lelouch. There was no way he would abandon his loyalty to Marianne-

Then came the second fax.

_I await you at Worlds End._

* * *

Charles opened the door under his throne and stepped into the world of the Thought Elevator to see his son standing in the armour of Lord Zero. "How?" Charles demanded. "How Did You Become A Code?"

Lelouch smiled. "It was simple, father." He replied, turning to face the Emperor. "Unlike you, I understand Zero."

"The Language Of The Universe?" Charles laughed. "Fool. You Know Nothing."

"You're just like Cyrus." Lelouch chuckled. "You thought that just summoning the beast was enough to control it? **Did you even try to understand its true nature?**"

"**You Believe That Donning A Mask And A Name Is Enough To Understand Zero?**" Charles asked, laughing.

"**Perhaps Viet could have understood.**" Lelouch sighed. "**But unfortunately, Cyrus murdered him. But you knew that, didn't you father?**"

Charles glared. "**What Do You Want, Boy?**" he asked. "**To Trap Us Both Here For Eternity?**"

"**I wrote the smear sheet.**" Lelouch stated.

Charles's eyes widened momentarily in surprise.

"**I knew you would try to kill me.**" Lelouch continued. "**I even had Silver orchestrate my arrest. Right now, he is explaining to my closest knights what you and mother did and intend to do. And we shall stop you.**"

The emperor chuckled. "**How Do You Not Understand?**" he asked. "**I OWN JAPAN! I **_**OWN**_** THE SACRED LAND!**"

"You're wrong." Lelouch told him, shutting down his Geass. "My Geass is that of absolute obedience. How many are under my power?"

Charles stopped dead.

"Did you ever consider that I _intended_ for you to capture me?" Lelouch continued. "How long could I wait? A second rebellion has much more power than the first ever could, because the second time has more bitterness and rage behind it than a first uprising ever could. I will admit, deoxys did set be back." Lelouch shrugged. "But so far, everything that has happened has gone according to plan." He laughed. "I even proved that Lelouch was not Zero!" he shouted. "I made myself a pawn to hide the fact I was a king! Schemes father?" he shouted, laughing as he donned the helmet.

"_**You do not know the meaning of a long con.**_"

With that, Lelouch twisted around and walked into oblivion, leaving his father in horror, mind broken at the possibility of being led along this whole time.

* * *

Lelouch slapped the hands of Silver and Red as he stepped out of the gate. "_**Thank you both.**_" He told the two as they shut down their Geass. "_**Defiance and Persuasion.**_" Lelouch chuckled, removing his helmet. "There was no way he _won't _take the bait."

"So only you and Silver were in on this from the start." Red nodded. "I get it. There was no way anyone else could play the role effectively enough."

"I had to cast the Geass on myself, admittedly." Lelouch shrugged. "Jeremiah's ability opened many doors for me."

"Especially since he promised to serve Me, now that you're gone and he found out what Mom did." Red nodded. "So, who played Lord Zero while you were being executed?" Red asked as Lelouch placed his helmet back on his head.

"_**That would be me.**_" Lord Zero declared, stepping out of the shadows and removing the mask, revealing Blue's smirking visage. "Tadah!" She shouted as the armour fell off, covered in slime, which reformed into her trusty Ditto.

Silver smirked. "I have to admit, using ditto to mimic the difference in body size was genius, Blue."

She winked. "Eh, there wasn't that much of a difference. Our brave leader is actually built like a twig, despite appearances. Still, it was fun, to actually bring my disguise skills to a whole 'nother level and fool the entire world!" said Blue giddily.

"_**And you performed brilliantly, Blue.**_" Lelouch said from behind the mask, turning around. "_**Now, forget about it.**_"

"Alright Lord Zero!" Blue saluted, before grabbing onto Silver.

Silver glared at Lelouch, with a look that said 'I'm not happy about that, but I accept that it was for her own safety'.

Lelouch smiled behind the mask. "_**Now, we need to organise our stage.**_" He announced. "_**Britannia shall declare war soon.**_"

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Best Jailbreak ever.

_**Varanus:** Just. As. Planned._


	41. Zero Mercy Zero Justice

Yep. Last chapter happened. Let's see what I can do this time.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

"_**Lelouch Vi Britannia.**__" Lelouch told his reflection in the chambers of the Ruins of Alph after defeating Cyrus. "__**Do not allow your emotions nor your body's weakness stop you, nor make you hesitate when faced with a decision or in the need of action. Adapt plans as needed, but otherwise carry out every decision you make unless new information occurs that makes you rethink the situation.**__"_

"_**Do not give into despair when plans fail or the worst possible scenario turns out to be better than the current unforeseen circumstance.**__" Lelouch continued. "__**Adapt the situation to your own ends- when you enter hell, conquer it and turn it into heaven. Thrive on the edge of defeat, snatch victory from impossible odds each time.**__"_

_Lelouch hesitated for the last time in his life._

"_**Achieve peace on Earth, goodwill to all men.**__"_

* * *

_Shortly after, Silver left the group of soldiers with Lelouch with a black briefcase._

"_Here's your armour and mask Zero."_

"_Ah, thanks Silver." Lelouch replied, lowering his head as he placed the metal frame over his face._

_He then raised his head to see the barrel of a gun pointed at the pointed crux of the reinforced glass visor of his helmet. It could defend against low calibre weapons from a distance, but this close and with this gun, the mask would be meaningless._

"_I know what you're thinking." Silver told him. "'Is he actually gonna fire that thing?'" he shrugged. "Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I've yet to decide that myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well?" Silver growled. "Do ya, punk?"_

"_**Paraphrasing film quotes now?**__" Lelouch asked._

**BLAM**

_Lelouch fell to the ground, his head reduced to mincemeat and his helmet to a spread of scrap metal around the wall behind him._

"_Bastard." Silver grunted, slouching back against the wall, gun falling limp by his side as he wiped the sweat from his face. "Shit…"_

_~ I know I wasn't the first man you killed. ~_

_Silver's eyes widened as a head appeared on the ground, forming from the gray matter all over the walls. It rolled over to Lelouch's curled up body until the two sides of the neck aligned._

_The birdlike symbol of the Geass formed on the forehead, and the wound healed. "__**Dammit…**__" Lelouch grunted, rolling over onto his hands and forcing himself to his feet. "__**I do not want to have to go through that again.**__"_

"_Wh-what—"_

_Before his killer could recover from the shock of his revival,_ _ Lelouch grabbed Silver's face._

"_Before you shoot me again, why don't you listen to my explanation?" Lelouch asked, Geass mark on his forehead blazing._

_Silver fell limp as Lelouch dragged him on a guided tour through some specific memories of his, only letting go when Silver had seen enough._

"_Sh-shit…" Silver gasped. "That's actually gonna happen?"_

_Lelouch nodded. "I was actually about to take my own life in order to gain the powers of the Code, so thank you for your help." He explained, helping Silver back to his feet. "So before we go back to everyone else, we need to carry out the first stage of the plan."_

_Silver glared, then grunted. "Not like I have a choice, considering the alternative."  
_

* * *

Zero City hadn't submerged in the three days since Lelouch Vi Britannia's botched execution. Most people believed that the reason for this was that the Black Knights, and collectively the United Federation of Nations, had no need to hide or defend itself from Britannia or any other enemies at the current time.

"While this was currently a true statement, it was not the reason why the city hadn't submerged.

The truth was that Vengeance refused to create the barrier to submerge the city.

He was far too interested in his current project.

It was rare for a genderless Pokémon to have a gender for it to be identified with, but Vengeance insisted on being referred to as male for the duration of his experiment.

The subject of this was the evolved form of deoxys that was currently under his training.

Shirley Fenette.

* * *

The first mewtwo paced around the meditating mass of tentacles that was shaped like a woman in a cross-legged position, arms brought almost together and head bowed.

_**You have yet to choose a name**_

Tentacles around the 'face' wrinkled.

_I have yet to choose my identity_

Vengeance's frail mouth twisted into a wry smile.

_**There is nothing wrong with choosing human appearance. Lati does this often**_

The deoxys-evolution turned to the mewtwo out of habit.

_Lati?_

_**The Latias. Not the children that humans carry in their pokéballs**_

The deoxys nodded, returning to her meditation.

_Will... I be able to carry children someday?_

_**Not as a human. But anything can happen. You are living proof of that**_

The deoxys's back curved moreso, shaking somewhat.

_**Let's take a break for now**_

The tentacles writhed and morphed into the body of a human female with orange hair. "You know what's strange?" Shirley asked. "I used to feel so uncomfortable without clothes, but now..."

_**It has been a week since Shirley Fenette died by your hand**_

"I know..." Shirley sighed, looking down and curling her knees to her chest, bringing her arms around them. "Is it... wrong that I keep on looking and sounding like her?"

_**It is wrong to choose an identity you know is false**_

"I thought so..." Shirley nodded, before closing her eyes as her skin began to bubble.

Her shoulders grew slightly wider, as did her hips.

Her bust decreased in size slightly, altering in shape.

Her hair retreated into her scalp, turning a humble, brown tone as it fell past her ears.

He clenched her cheeks together as her face morphed into someone else entirely.

"How about now?" she asked, someone who clearly wasn't the girl that died.

_**Do not pretend to be someone that you are not**_

The girl slipped back into the appearance of Shirley Fenette. "Yeah... I know..."

* * *

"Another deceitful plot carried out successfully." C.C. commented as Lelouch entered the room. "You even had me fooled." She sat up from the bed she was lounging on. "Was it necessary for me to spend the weekend in a jail cell next to the woman who burned me alive?"

"Probably not." Lelouch sighed, slumping into the seat. "You might also be interested to learn that I've become a Code."

"I heard." C.C. stated. "Although, you didn't tell me back in the ruins."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "You knew?" he asked.

"Of course." C.C. smirked. "There was no way I'd let you go to your execution if you couldn't reattach your head."

"It still hurt." Lelouch grumbled, rubbing his chin where Suzaku's sword came out a few days before. "The blackness... do you ever get used to that."

C.C. rolled over on the bed. "No." She replied honestly. "Sometimes you won't see it for years and you think you get over it, then..."

Lelouch nodded, picking up a black king from the chess set on the desk beside him. "I want you to tell me about Nemo." He asked.

"Nemo?" C.C. asked. "The captain of the Nautilus or the finneon with a gammy fin?"

Lelouch narrowed his glare. "I am referring to the entity that resides within my sister."

"Nunnally?" C.C. asked. "What about her?"

"You donated DNA for my mother to use in order to manipulate the fertilised egg of one of her children." Lelouch explained. "This would grant the child paranormal abilities, such the power to read peoples intentions at touch, an ability Nunnally has had for years." Lelouch glared. "She also contemplated removing one of her senses so this power could flourish."

"How did you find out about that?" C.C. asked.

"So you don't deny that it happened?" Lelouch asked her, catching the king in his hand.

"I wasn't aware that the experiment succeeded."

"See for yourself." Lelouch replied, placing a hand on C.C.'s forehead to show her the memory he had remembered.

* * *

_~ "I'm impressed that you developed mastery over this ability so quickly." ~ _C.C. commented as she watched the scene that ended Lelouch's idyllic childhood, including the part neither he nor Nunnally remembered. _~ "It took me a year after I discovered this for me to use it this effectively." ~_

_~ "I already knew the basics from you." ~ _Lelouch told her. _~ "The only difference is that this time I am in control, now watch." ~_

The two of them paid attention to the scene as Nemo took over Nunnally's consciousness and began to brutally slaughter every enemy in the room, turning a simple murder into a massacre. C.C.'s face didn't move at the scene apart from the mild surprise at Nunnally's transformation.

_~ "What do you know about this?" ~_ Lelouch asked her as the scene faded into white.

~ _"I have seen people develop destructive abilities after exposure to the Geass and sufficient trauma." ~_ C.C. admitted. _~ "These powers are made manifest as darkrai- nightmares given form." ~_

_~ "That's all this is?" ~ _Lelouch asked._ ~ "Nemo is Nunnally's darkrai?" ~_

_~ "Perhaps you didn't notice the resemblance to giratina?" ~_ C.C. asked in response.

Lelouch's eyes grew tighter. ~ _"Which is it, witch?" ~_ he asked.

C.C. looked him in the eye. ~ _"I have no idea." ~_ she replied, before planting a hand on Lelouch's forehead and taking control of this mental space.

* * *

Clair strode out into the corridors of the royal palace in Pendragon City, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Damn brat." She snarled to herself.

"Is your father making good use of your abilities, sister?"

She turned around to see her cousin Lance leaning against a pedestal. "You..." she hissed, striding up to him and lifting him by the scruff of his neck. "What're you doing here?"

"Careful." Lance told her, placing a hand on her wrist. "No one wants to get hurt."

She let go of her cousin and took a safe step back. Lance's Geass was one of the rare few that wasn't limited to the human brain in usage. "You have no right to be here."

"Come on, aren't we both of the same grandfather?" Lance asked her. "Sure, your mother married the Britannian Emperor and my father took control of the Dragon House of Kyoto, but we're still family, right?"

Clair smirked. "A clan that is now annihilated you mean?"

"Well, yes." Lance smiled. "Were I not the Knight of Six, I would have helped them when they turned to Zero." He chuckled. "It's almost a shame really."

Lance put a powerful hand on Clair's shoulder and she positively flinched. "So why don't you tell me why the Knights of One, Three, Four, Five, Seven and Eight have been purged from the Round Table?"

"You do understand that the former Knight of One betrayed Britannia and is now a leader of the Black Knights?" Clair asked, brushing her brother's grip from her shoulder. "As did the Dark Angel Cynthia."

"Brandon, Lucy and Anabel would never abandon the table." Lance told her. "Cynthia's one step away from being a knowledge whore, and I don't know Kururugi that well, but the King, Queen and the Maiden would never betray the crown."

"Lelouch has the Geass of Absolute Obedience." Clair told him.

Lance's eyes widened. "Are you serious?" he asked.

She nodded. "Anyone who has met him face to face alone could have any number of commands implanted into their mind without them knowing." Clair continued. "The Emperor is beginning to see him, and Zero, as legitimate threats to the Empire and his life."

"But he's a Code like you." Lance reasoned. "What could possibly kill him?"

"Lelouch killed master Cyrus." Clair whispered into her cousins ear.

Lance could barely formulate a reply, but managed to. "How?"

"We don't know." She replied. "That's what scares him."

"Arceus..." Lance managed. "So, who's the new Knight of One? That hyperactive old man get promoted?"

"It's a man in a suit of armour." Clair told him. "I don't know his identity, but his title is the Immortal Regis."

"So he's probably a Code too." Lance sighed. "I thought the Geass was supposed to be a secret power given only to a select few, but they're coming out everywhere now."

"Less of a feebas more of a magikarp." Clair agreed.

"Well, it's not quite that bad just yet." Lance sighed. "Finneon at worst. So, that still leaves six spaces- why does Spenser still have his title?" he asked.

"He's immune to the Geass apparently." Clair sighed. "All of that Pokémon telepathy training messed with his brain."

Lance laughed. "Why am I not surprised?" he asked rhetorically. "Still, that's more than half of our chairs..."

"The Emperor has Noland re-drawing the Table." Clair told him, walking to the window and summoning an altaira. "If you want to discuss it, go see him."

Lance nodded, resting a hand on the pokémon's wing before smiling. "You handed out a Geass to someone under orders of the Emperor." Lance said, surprised. "Whatever is he up to..?"

"Stop reading my pokémon's minds." Clair spat, kicking his hand away before taking off.

* * *

Ohgi waited in the rain on route 121 in an anorak with his wartortle, waiting for a lady.

When he put on the mask of Zero two weeks ago, he never thought that he would ever be able to stand freely in Japan while it was still called Area Eleven.

He lifted his head and let the rain fall on his smiling face. This felt good.

"Why here of all places?"

Ohgi turned around as he saw a Britannian Noble in an umbrella, her high-heels stuck in the mud. "Chigusa..." he gasped, stepping towards her.

She let out her magnezone. "My name is Villetta Nu." She told him as thunder crashed in the sky. "I'm a Britannian Baron, a member of the MI5. We may have established a temporary truce for the execution of Lelouch, but since that didn't happen I doubt how long that will last."

Ohgi nodded. "Of course." He said. "You took back your old life."

"Tell me." She said, striding towards him. "Do you think that WHA-!"

"Ah!" Ohgi gasped, rushing forward to catch her but slipping in the mud himself, landing next to her.

He pushed himself up, spitting the grass from his mouth and wiping his mouth as Villetta snarled, slowly pushing herself to her feet.

"There's probably somewhere we can wash in the abandoned weather research centre..." Ohgi suggested feebly as Villetta roared at the sky, letting her cape fall from her shoulders. "Hey, are you alright-"

She tore off her high-heeled boots and swan-dived off the cliff into the water below. "CHIGUSA!" Ohgi shouted, running to the ledge and diving after her.

She entered the water with barely a splash, while Ohgi crashed in violently, looking for her amongst the bubbles.

He was tackled from the side and slammed against the rock-face under the water before getting a knee rammed into his stomach. Winded, he opened his mouth and the air in his lungs spewed out as he floated up to the surface, unconscious.

He was dragged back to a small piece of land at the water's edge where he coughed up the water and began to breathe again.

"My name," his rescuer and attacker told him. "Is Villetta Nu."

* * *

"Could be worse." Rivalz stated, keeping his eyes fixed on the hospital ceiling, having counted the holes in each tile he could see, then working out the average since the last time he tried speaking to the patient next to him. "I mean, he could have shot us somewhere a couple of days in hospital couldn't have fixed."

Kallen growled at the world in general. "Why the hell are there so many bones and nerves and whatever in the foot that it takes so long to fix?" she shouted.

"No idea." Rivalz sighed, not daring let her know that he had it worst.

'_Why they had to shave me and cut my hair for foot surgery I'll never know.'_ He groaned internally, scratching the beard he had lost. It was one to be proud of, and now he was going to have to start again.

He didn't even have an excuse to grow his hair out again.

Dammit...

"Heyoh!"

Rivalz sat bolt upright at their visitor. "Milly?" he asked. "What're you doing here?"

The blonde grinned. "Visiting you two, silly!" she shouted, leaning over to Rivalz's raised foot. "So, this is where Lulu shot you, huh?"

"Don't you dare touch it." Rivalz warned her, leaning forward to protect his foot.

"Awww... is the famous badass who cut off his own arm afwaid of a widdle pain in his widdle footsies?" Milly asked him condescendingly.

"I am NOT spending another weekend in surgery while they align bits of metal in my foot." Rivalz told her, before sighing and leaning back. "Maybe if I nuke it at the ankle they'll give me a metal one-"

"Don't you DARE!" Kallen warned him, sitting upright to glare at him. "That's just—"

She stopped because Rivalz and Milly were both snickering. "Knew I could get you talking somehow." Rivalz laughed as Kallen smiled sheepishly. "Anyway, how're you doing?" he asked Milly. "We didn't really get to talk back in China."

"Well, I finally graduated." She told them. "So, they're going to have to get a new student council elected..."

"I can imagine." Rivalz grinned. "Everyone's become a terrorist, huh?"

"Wait... didn't you hear about Shirley..?" Milly asked.

"Yeah, she became a deoxys-human hybrid, kinda." Rivalz told her, glancing at Kallen. "Although, she's kinda having an identity-crisis right now."

"Wait, she's alive?" Milly asked in disbelief, dropping the paper bag of muffins she'd bought.

"Actually... I'm not sure..." Kallen told them. "She's got Shirley's memories and DNA, but I'm not sure she thinks she's Shirley anymore."

"What're you talking about?" Rivalz laughed. "Of course she's Shirley."

"No, I'm not."

The three of them turned to the young brunette standing at the door. "President... no, Milly Ashford." The woman said, shaking her head before bowing. "I'm sorry..."

"Wh-who are you..?" Milly asked.

"I am the deoxys that killed Shirley Fenette." She told her, crying. "I'm sorry lulu... I'm sorry lulu..."

Milly's maternal instincts kicked in as she walked around Rivalz's bed and slipped two arms around the deoxys's back. "It's alright..." she told her, not knowing why. "Shirley lives inside of you, doesn't she..?"

She woman looked into Milly's eyes. "Do you really want that lulu?" she asked, face morphing into Shirley's pale image, her brown hair turning ginger and falling down her back. "You know that Shirley's dead, and you want her killer to pretend to be her lulu?"

Unnerved, Milly took a step back. "What about Shirley's family lulu?" Shirley shouted. "They've already buried their daughter, so should there be another of her walking around?" she shook her hair as it turned red and shrunk into a bun as her face changed. "No. That's not fair to anyone lulu." She told them, pulling a red orb from her pocket and offering it to Milly. "The dead are dead. I'm just a Pokémon with her memories.

"Wh-what's this..?" Milly asked, taking it. "A Cherish Ball?"

"_My_ Cherish Ball." The woman corrected. "I know I look and talk like a human, but that's what I am." She touched her breast. "Shirley's DNA and organs inside me stop me from decaying like the other deoxys, and her brain and memories stop me from killing every human I see, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm a monster."

"Deoxys." Rivalz said, wearing the stern face he'd developed over the months of dealing with the underground. "Did you come here just to reinforce the fact that Shirley's dead and you don't want to be here, or is there another reason?"

"Uh..." she lifted the basket she was carrying. "I thought you might want some fruit..."

"Thanks." Kallen told her with a smile. "Hospital food sucks."

"I'm good." Rivalz told her, reaching down and grabbing the paper bag from the floor and grabbing a muffin that had rolled out. "I've been wanting to eat one of Milly's cupcakes for a year."

"Hey, that's been on the floor!" Kallen told him as he rammed the bun that had rolled out of the bag into his mouth.

"Sho?" he asked, mouth full of fluffy goodness. "Itsh a hoshpital." He swallowed. "The floors are clean. All of it is." He picked up another muffin. "Stands to reason."

"Ever heard of MRSA?" Milly warned him.

"Nah, not a chance." Rivalz grunted, shoving another muffin into his mouth whole. "I nooged ta fwaor aroud ren rinites ago."

The deoxy's hands turned to tentacles as it pulled itself to the ceiling. "And you didn't tell me?" she shouted, her voice blending into Shirley's high-pitched screech. "You KNOW what your hand does to Pokémon like me!"

Milly laughed as Rivalz facepalmed into metal, knocking himself out.

She laughed even harder as he began to choke on the half-eaten muffin and Kallen had to haul herself out of her bed to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre.

* * *

Pike Queen Lucy patrolled around Lake Valour to calm herself down, not that it was working.

Why did she help Lelouch escape?

Why did she attack those troops?

Why can't she remember any of it?

Why did governor Nunnally let her off without as much as a slap on the wrist?

"It was the Geass."

Lucy turned around and was startled to see Princess Cornelia standing behind her. "Cornelia..." Lucy told her old friend, quickly regaining her composure. "It's been a long time."

The princess gave her a thin, serious smile. "It has indeed. I'm sorry for keeping you and everyone else in the dark, but it was necessary. I've been researching several ruins around Area Eleven over the past six months." Cornelia told her. "Britannia's military advances over the past thirty years have been targeting various holy sites around the world, many of these being in Japan." Cornelia sat on the grass by the water's edge. "This is one of them."

Lucy stepped to the water and sat next to her friend. "What is the Geass?" she asked.

"Hidden Power." Cornelia explained. "You understand that the ability varies from Pokémon to Pokémon?" Lucy nodded. "Well, there's a method for humans to access this power, only called Geass." Cornelia glared darkly. "Lelouch's 'Hidden Power' forces anyone that looks him in the eye to follow any order he gives them, end they'll have no memory of carrying it out."

Lucy's eyes widened as she realised what this meant for her friend. "So you believe that Euphie was innocent after all?"

"Of course she was." Cornelia spat. "How could a creature as gentle as my sister ever hurt anything?"

"I trusted her as much as you did." Lucy told Cornelia. "I trust you and your judgement." She stood up. "We need to report this to the Emperor immediately."

"He's at the centre of it all."

Lucy stopped dead.

"He's capturing these holy sites in order to summon something only someone who has mastered their Geass- a Code, can control." Cornelia glared. "Or so he thinks. This monster will destroy the world."

"Giratina?" Lucy asked. "Lelouch summoned that beast at his execution."

"Giratina is one of the many seals holding this monster away." Cornelia explained. "So long as father doesn't have it, he can't summon the monster."

"What's this monster called?" Lucy asked, wondering what could be so terrible to make Cornelia avoid naming it.

"I don't know." The warrior princess admitted. "None of the ruins I found ever named it, only explaining that it was the worst possible thing that could possibly happen to this universe."

"What will it do?" Lucy asked.

"Imagine hell." Cornelia growled. "Now imagine that the devil himself dies and goes to the Hell of Hell. Then you're not even close."

Lucy looked over the lake. "Lelouch knows about this, doesn't he?" she asked.

"I can only assume that he's fighting against it." Cornelia said. "He's got the same level of power as the Emperor, so they're both capable of unleashing the monster." Cornelia laughed bitterly. "Lelouch hates his father and loves his sister. There's no way he'd let father do this."

"But what if Lelouch plans to do it?" Lucy asked her.

Cornelia stood to her feet. "Then we're doomed no matter what we do."

* * *

Red walked through the corridors of the indigo plateau with Cynthia on his side and Pika in his hat, discussing various things like Redeoxys and the Geass.

"Well, of course you didn't get the Geass from kissing him." Red shrugged. "He wasn't a Code. He had a Code body, but not the real deal."

"And are you a Code?" Cynthia asked.

"Not anymore apparently." Red sighed. "Man, I was hoping to enjoy immortality, but no, I just _happened_ to evolve back into mortality less than a week after becoming mortal again."

Cynthia looked ahead to see Zero and a green-haired woman walk into the corridor. "Hey, Auntie C.C.!" Red waved.

'_That's C2?'_ Cynthia realised, then picked up the pace and strode towards the witch at a high speed, grabbed her by the back of the head and forcefully kissed her.

"Uh, what?" Red asked, looking at the pair. "Wait, what?"

"Chu~?" Pika asked, tilting his head.

Zero just watched the scene in silence, ignoring Red's request for a high-five.

Cynthia eventually pulled away. "Why didn't that work?" she asked.

"Mmm, not bad." C.C. smirked, patting Cynthia on the shoulder and stepping past her. "But your hand work needs more practice." She licked her lips. "Good tongue though."

"_**Geass can only be transferred between opposite genders, if that is what you were after.**_" Zero quietly told Cynthia. "_**But I'd like you to keep quiet about that though. Your best bet is to find Lelouch before I do.**_"

With that, he strode forward after the witch as Red sidled up to Cynthia. "So... hand work?" he leered. "Was the scientist taking her little _experiment_ a little further than she expected to?"

Cynthia brushed her lips unconsciously with her thumb. "She has the Geass of Lust, if I'm correct." She thought aloud.

"That might explain a lot actually." Red added, letting out a sigh as pikachu jumped down to the ground. "And technically it's Love, not Lust. Though there's probably a bit of both in it."

He laughed, and the sleeves of his shirt tore open and the rest of the shirt split several holes.

"Dammit, again?" he sighed, pulling the garment off altogether. "I keep using Bulk Up without meaning to. This whole 'Pokémon Master' thing is almost more trouble than its worth."

"There you are!"

Red turned around to see Misty on the warpath. "Then again!" he shrugged, punching the ground. Dirt flew up from the tiles as he burrowed into the soil below, sealing the tunnel behind him as Misty reached it.

"Damn, he's got Pika to use Dig?" Misty asked, sighing as she walked away. "Ah, whatever. I can't be bothered anymore..."

Cynthia began snickering, then laughed, then bent over double in hysterics. "What?" Misty shouted at her, turning around angrily.

"N-Nothing..." Cynthia lied, struggling for breath. "Oh... can't breathe, can't breathe..."

* * *

Toudou stood before the fresh graves of Asahina, Urabe, and Senba. The three of them wished to be buried in Mt. Pyre, on Japanese soil, and Toudou was thankful he could fulfil their wishes.

Only one of the graves had a body inside it.

There wasn't anything to bury of the other two.

"Are you okay?" Chiba asked him from behind.

"Tell me..." Toudou sighed. "Why did you give the Regi's to Bluebeard?"

Chiba gasped slightly, then looked down and grabbed her arm. "Because... they follow him." she said. "Senba gave regirock to Rivalz. After Chiba's death, registeel followed him before we gave it to Gold. And... after Asahina died..."

"That's enough." Toudou cut her off, looking at the sky. "If that is their will, then so be it."

Chiba nodded. "Yes sir."

Toudou sighed. "I'm useless in the mornings." he said, walking past her back to the city.

"Sir?" Chiba asked, looking at the setting sun. "Yes sir." she nodded, following her commanding officer.

* * *

Ohgi woke up inside a cave. He was bruised and disorientated, but luckily was warm and dry for some reason. Someone had saved him... "Uh..."

"Don't dive after an enemy who dived into the water herself." Villetta told him from the other side of the fire. "Especially when your pokégear isn't waterproof."

Ohgi sat up, then realised he was naked under Villetta's cloak. "Uh..." he managed, blushing.

"Again, don't dive in water fully dressed unless your clothes are designed to dry out quickly like mine are." Villetta sighed, scratching wartortle's head. "But you earn points for teaching your wartortle Secret Power."

"Tortle!" the turtle pokémon saluted proudly as the Britannian baron smirked.

* * *

"Noland!" Lance shouted at the factory head from his gyarados as it rode up the waterfall up to the man in a sleeveless labcoat and an S-pad.

"She's going in whether you like it or not." Noland told his fellow Knight. "In fact, your cousin is taking my old space."

Lance smirked. "So, you're promoting yourself?"

"I've got your old slot as a matter of fact." Noland told him.

The man glared from behind his red hair. "Tell me I'm being promoted."

"I'm putting you forward as Knight of Four." Noland told him. "One of the newbies is getting rank three, Emperor's orders."

Lance sat down on the giant corsola's back next to Noland. "What's this newbie called?"

"Not telling." Noland told him. "But trust me when I tell ya that he deserves the titles the Emperor's giving him."

Lance peered over Noland's shoulder and looked at the S-pad screen at the Knight of Three's title.

_World Eater._

* * *

A blonde man rode across the Mexican deserts of Area Three on his black Lugia. Behind his large, mirrored sunglasses, he grinned at the oncoming sandstorm.

This was what he lived for.

He pulled lugia back as a large shedinja rushed past it. "**Shadow Blast!**" he shouted, pulling the lugia around to target the fast moving pokémon. The black storm-beast charged a cyclone of darkness around it and launched it at the hollow husk, hitting it dead on.

A young woman leapt from the shedinja, using the cyclone's impact to launch her towards her enemy. "Gengar, Umbreon!" she shouted, throwing the pokéballs forward. "Dark Pulse!"

The combined power of the two attacks launched the Shadow Lugia hurtling towards the ground. The woman recalled her pokémon and rolled in the sand, charging at her opponent with her bare hands as he recovered from the crash landing.

He stood up and tossed two pokéballs into the air, unleashing his espeon and umbreon to charge at the woman's gengar and umbreon as he blocked her palm strike, throwing a punch that she deflected and used to throw him past her. He ran with it, throwing a pokéball to catch the downed shedinja.

"What?" the blonde woman shouted, looking behind her in shock as her pokémon was stolen, creating an opening for the man to elbow her in the face.

She went down, and he knelt on her chest and put a hand around her throat. "Yield." He ordered, holding the shedinja's new pokéball in his hand.

The girl gritted her teeth, then tapped the sand with her hand. Her gengar and umbreon immediately jumped back from the battle, gengar's hands behind its back and umbreon sitting.

The man stood up, allowing the blonde to do the same. "You've got guts." The woman told him, rubbing her neck and reaching inside her gi. "You're Wes, right?"

"Who's asking?" the man asked, flipping up his sunglasses to reveal a pair of golden eyes.

"Arena Tycoon Greta, former Knight of Eleven." She said, handing him an envelope sealed with the royal seal. "I had to make sure you were up to the task."

"Former?" Wes asked, opening the envelope and scanning the Mail within.

"The Emperor is organising a new Round Table, and everyone's being moved around." Greta told him, slapping a hand onto his shoulder. "Welcome aboard, Shadow Snatcher Wes."

He looked up and glared, a single Geass blaring for a moment as he scanned her. "**Your Aura is clean.**" He commented, disabling it and offering her pokémon back. "I'm sure I'll enjoy working with you."

She grinned, taking his arm by the wrist. "Knighthood ceremony's in Pendragon tomorrow." She told him, taking the ball back. "Anything you need to pick up?"

He thought about it.

He hadn't seen Rui in years.

"No." He replied. "I'm carrying everything I need."

* * *

A blonde teenager rode a dodrio through the forests of Area Two, stopping outside Niagra falls.

"Wow..." the teenager whistled from under a wide straw hat, releasing several pokémon from their pokéballs. "You guys stretch your legs, I feel like fishing."

An old man chuckled as he approached the teenager. "You must be Amarillo del Bosque Verde." he said, carrying his blue staff. "No one else could have pokémon so understanding at your young age."

The blonde turned around as the hat blew to the waterfall, showing her long ponytail. "I prefer to be called Yellow." She told the old man. "But that's me."

The old man chuckled again. "My name is Spenser." he said. "The Emperor desires you to become one of his knights."

"Me..?" Yellow asked, before shaking her head. "I'm flattered, but I must decline."

"Red has been captured by Zero." Spenser told her, and she stopped dead. "You're the only one who can save him."

She turned to face the Palace Maven again. "What do I need to do?"

* * *

A green haired young man collapsed atop Mount Everest, pressing a button by his neck to spring up the blue respirator mask to help him breathe the thin air. "_I- I did it..._" he wheezed, standing up in the snow. "_I really did it..._"

"HRAGH!"

Wally leapt around as a massive creature hulked through the blizzard towards him. He carefully reached for the pokéball containing his gardevoir, but then the figure bent over, hands on its knees.

The snow cleared to show a man in a long green coat and wild blonde hair. "Man..." he panted. "I don't remember the last time I've ever been this out of breath..."

He stood upright and thumped his chest proudly. "Wallace Mitsuru, or just Wally?" the man asked loudly.

"_Just Wally._" the green haired boy said from behind his mask, looking the man in the eye. "_Did you climb this mountain just to battle me?_"

"No!" Palmer laughed. "Even _**I**_ know that's dangerous! Come on!" he shouted, grabbing the sickly boy by the wrist and charging down the side of the mountain. "No time to loose! No time to explain! Let's GOOOO!"

Wally flicked his respirator suit down. "T-Teleport!" he shouted at his gardevoir, and they were all transported to the base at the foot of the mountain.

"Oh." the blonde man said, before laughing. "Right! NOW we have time."

The Tower Lord Palmer slapped Wally on the back. "Welcome to the Round Table, Wallsalot!" he shouted, summoning his dragonite. "Off we go!"

* * *

The Immortal Regis looked at the two coffins that Saturn brought to him. "Now are you sure that these are the ones we want?" he asked the Galactic Leader.

"Absolutely." Saturn nodded.

"**Well, we'll know soon enough.**" the armoured knight replied.

There was a moments silence.

Then once coffin burst into flames.

Then frost crawled along the other, the wood splintering against the heat of the first coffin's flames.

Two dead men rose from the smoke and the mist, two old enemies turned madmen that died so Hoenn may live.

"**Maxie Matsubasa. Archie Aogiri.**" The Immortal Regis told the two living corpses from behind his armoured face. "**Do you two believe in angels?**"

* * *

"So if we know that Zero is Lelouch," Brandon asked Silver. "Why the hell are we letting him prance around like he owns the damned place?"

Silver sighed. "We don't exactly have a choice other than to play along with his little game for now." He said. "He's immortal. He can summon the powers of darkness. From what Red's told me, he can trap you in your memories by touching you, not even skin contact. _Then_ there's the fact that he's a genius strategist in power armour with extremely powerful pokémon." Silver shrugged. "What can we do?"

Brandon growled storming off.

"Wh-What?" Anabel gasped from her computer. "Brandon, get over here!"

"Ugh, what now?" he asked, sauntering over to the screen.

- Knighting ceremony of the new Knights of the Round Table. -

* * *

"Amarillo Del Bosque Verde!" Emperor Charles Zi Britannia told the kneeling blonde woman in her green and golden robes, resting an enormous broadsword upon each of her shoulders. "I Hereby Do Dub Thee Lady Viridian Daughter, Knight Of Twelve. Rise."

"Yes." she replied, standing to her feet. "Your highness."

"Saturnus Michel Ceaser!" The Emperor boomed as Yellow moved aside to allow the blue haired man in gray armour and blue robes to kneel before the Emperor. "I Hereby Do Dub Thee Sir Galactic Overlord, Knight Of Eleven! Rise!"

"Yes, your highness." Saturn declared proudly, moving over for the blonde woman in black armour and red robes.

"Greta Stern! I Hereby Do Dub Thee Lady Arena Tycoon, Knight Of Ten! Rise!"

This ceremony continued as the Emperor knighted Clair as the Rising Dragon, Knight of Nine, Spenser the Palace Maven, Knight of Eight, Wally the Fading Rival, Knight of Seven, Noland the Factory Head, Knight of Six, Wes the Shadow Snatcher, Knight of Five, and Lance the Dragon Master, Knight of Four.

Then a young man with dark hair and crimson eyes strode into the room.

He wore a black cape with orange lining. His left arm bore a deep blue cloaking sleeve with red markings along it, and his right arm bore a dark red sleeve that cloaked his arm with foreboding blue lines.

He bowed his head and knelt before the Emperor, and the lines on each sleeve glowed ominously.

"Brendan Ruby Richards!" The Emperor boomed, bringing the claymore on each of the young mans shoulders. "I Hereby Do Dub Thee Sir World Eater! Knight Of Three! Rise!"

"**Yes.**" The World Eater replied, rising to his feet. "**Your. Highness.**"

* * *

"BRENDAN?" May screeched, grabbing the screen and shaking it violently. "WHY? WHY?"

"Hey, down in front." Blue shouted, tossing a piece of popcorn at her head. "I wanna find out who the armoured guy is."

"So who's this Brendan?" Gold asked as May stepped back from the screen.

"He's... a close friend of mine." May explained as Palmer was knighted as the Tower Lord, Knight of Two. "He almost joined the Black Knights, but he said that he was going to fight the system from within like Kururugi..."

"Hush!" Blue shouted, throwing more popcorn as the Immortal Regis was knighted. "So, not gonna tell us his name, huh?"

"So, one traitor, and one enigma." Flannery stated. "But why are none of the knights in Japan on the table anymore?"

"Dunno." Blue shrugged. "But the old guy's saying summat."

_\_ "**And I Hereby EXILE All Those In Japan, Formerly Area Eleven!**" _\_ Emperor Charles Zi Britannia the Fourth decreed. _\_ "**The Whole Land Has Fallen Under The Dark Spell Of Lelouch Vi Giratina! It Is With Great Sadness That I Announce This, As Even My Own Childeren Have Fallen Under My Demon Child's Power, But It Is Too Late To Save Them! The Only Mercy Left For Us To Offer Them Is The Sweet Release Of Death!**" _\_

"Oh..." Morty whispered. "That is not a good thing..."

"Ya think?" Blue asked flippantly.

"No way are they gonna accept this..." Brock whispered in horror and disbelief.

_\_ "**I Know That This Is A Hard Loss For Us To Swallow.**" _\_ the emperor continued. _\_ "**I Tried To Deny This Fact Myself, But By The Word Of Arceus, I Assure You That This Is Truth.**" _\_

* * *

_\_ "**This Is Why I Assembled These New Knights This Day.**" _\_ Charles declared as Suzaku stared in horror with Euphemia. _\_ "**Yes, Even Six Of My Knights Have Fallen To Lelouch's Evil Power, In One Way Or Another.**" _\_

"F-Father..." Euphie gasped.

* * *

_\_ "**But By The Will Of Arceus!**" _\_ the emperor roared as the great stag of creation himself burst through the wall and strode into the throne room above him. "**THEY! SHALL BE! AVENGED!**"

"N-No way..." Tamaki gasped, backing into Toudou. "This is not happening."

_\_ "**ALL HEIL!**" _\_ The Emperor roared, raising the massive blade into the air. _\_ "**BRRRITANNIA!**" _\_

"They'll revolt." Lloyd Asplund chuckled in horror. "They have to..."

_\_ "ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!" _\_ Those in the court cried, as if posessed. _\_ "ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!" _\_

"The Emperor posesses the Geass to manipulate memories." Cornelia explained, striding into the command room of the Indigo Plateu with Lucy. "Spread across an audience and over television screens, they accept his propaganda as fact unless they know for a fact that it is wrong."

"The Britannian Armada consists of over fifty million trainers." Toudou told the room. "There is no way we can possibly win this battle."

"No." Cornelia corrected him. "Unfortunately, we have one way to survive this." She glared. "Worse still, that miracle is unfortunately close at hand."

* * *

Lelouch smiled as he turned off the screen, turning to the immortal witch lying on the couch. "And so they become as Faust." he said with a smirk. "Selling their souls for liberty and life, dealing with the devil to escape god's judgement."

"You do like to dramatise things, don't you?" C.C. asked him, rolling over so her hair fell over the headrest as she smirked at him in a world turned upside-down.

Lelouch laughed. "I just created a situation for my enemies where the world with me as their leader is infinitely better than any other possible scenario in the immediate future." He told her, vaulting over the table and onto the couch next to her. "Allow me to indulge myself from time to time, witch."

She smiled, sitting up and kissing him.

He did deserve it.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Admit it. I am brilliant.

So, what do you think the Emperor's evil plan is? Or Lelouch's, for that matter.


	42. Hier Kompt Die Sonne

Sorry for the delay, I've had a few hectic weeks.

So, reviews.

First off, the nun was a dude. Poggg, what counts is what they are reproductively capable of. If that's still both, then there's your answer.

FINALLY! Someone recognises the awesome of the Metapod club OTHER than WWDW!

And I would apologise for the delay, except the only thing I regret is not giving you guys any advance warning. Now for an explanation.

I've been busy working on something else, and when it comes out, you will applaud the fact that I've been missing for weeks. That is all.

Also, **Go watch the Highschool of the Dead anime, no matter what you have to do to view it. Lelouch Vi Britannia commands it!**

Now, Here Comes The Sun

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_The world has begun to move from the miracle Zero has created._

_The world shall be born from the actions Zero has shown._

_Yes, right now, the world is progressing towards its next stage, accompanied by overflowing desires and fluctuations of emotions._

_Zero must continue forward in order to keep this earth spinning. _

_Because if he stops…_

* * *

"They're coming…" Tamaki said through the telescope in the Vista Lighthouse at Sunyshore City on the day of the battle. "Holy shit they are coming."

_\_ "How many Tamaki?" _\_ Ohgi asked over the communicator.

"Way too many…" Tamaki replied in a hushed voice as he rotated the telescope left and right. "It's a solid wall of pokémon- SHIT!"

_\_ "What is it Tamaki?" _\_ Ohgi asked urgently.

"They-they've got Palkia on their side…" Tamaki whispered. "A-And Dialga…" He gulped. "I'm counting about a dozen lugia, same amount of ho-oh, thirty of the other birds, they've got a herd of groudon making a path for their army to walk over the ocean on, and a school of kyogre freezing the waves between the land to keep it all together…"

He took a deep breath to control the tremble in his voice. "There are a whole bunch of rayquaza airships above their army." Tamaki continued. "And a shitload of wailord carriers flying with them. They have giant pokémon too." He added. "There's a torterra that must weigh fifty tonnes carrying the biggest cannon I have ever seen."

"And mewtwo." Tamaki added, doing all he could not to piss himself. "They're mass-producing mewtwo's like the Lancelot, with similar armour too…"

* * *

Back at the Indigo Plateau, Zero rose to his feet. "_**You are dead.**_" He told everyone. "_**You all died the moment Charles Zi Britannia exiled you to Japan, and now you can see the true face of your death.**_"

"Shut it Zero." Suzaku snarled at him. "Can you win this battle, or can't you?"

Lelouch grinned behind the mask. "_**No.**_" he lied. "_**I cannot.**_"

He relished the look of fear on everyone's faces. "_**We are facing an invasion force with strength a hundred fold of that which took Japan by force eight years ago.**_" Zero continued. "_**We have a nation divided between Britannian nationalist who insist we can beg for mercy, cowards who have tried to flee, elevens who are broken by memories of an unwinnable war, Japanese who have grown fat through a taste of freedom and have forgotten how to lead themselves, and cast off Britannian soldiers facing an enemy they spent their entire lives bowing their heads to.**_" He slammed a fist onto the table. "_**I am the man of miracles, but as Cornelia will attest from the first time we did battle, I am powerless when forced to work with men who do not trust me. You are all pokémon who have just been traded to a trainer you do not trust, and so I cannot battle with you. No,**_" Zero shook his head, bringing his armoured arm within the folds of his cape. "_**You cannot battle with a trainer you refuse to trust.**_"

"You dare speak of trust?" Jeremiah asked him. "YOU MURDERED YOUR OWN MOTHER!"

"_**Twice, but I only intended to do it the second time.**_" Zero told him, turning to face the window. "_**But you serve only to prove my point. There is only one I can trust to fight alongside me.**_"

"Who?" Cornelia asked him.

Zero drew a katana forged from the dawnstone he had taken from Tucker, slashing the glass window open with one swing. "_**RYUJIN!**_" he shouted into the wind, leaping out onto the lugia below. "_**BECOME THE STORM!**_"

He rode towards the infinite enemy with a grin as those in the command room leapt out of the window and rode their own pokémon into battle. _'If a trainer does not lead, can he expect his pokémon to fight alongside him?'_ he thought to himself.

He stood atop the beast as he slowed before the army. "_**BRITANNIA!**_" he roared, spreading his arms wide. "_**OMAE NO AITE WA OE DA! I AM YOUR OPPONENT!**_"

Zero slashed his blade wide as those that followed him, and more, began to gather behind him. "_**This world is mine.**_" He said. "_**I seek not a kingdom, for this planet that gives us life is mine to command. I, Zero, hear the beating of its heart, and I know it. This land shall fight you alongside the people and pokémon that love it. And to fight them, you fight me, the abyss itself.**_"

"_**So come.**_" Zero sneered, raising his arms as the sea shook. "_**You shall die if you retreat, and you shall die if you stay. So Come.**_"

Beneath him, two regirock, two regice, two registeel and a regigigas ascended from the rampaging water with their arms folded. Red and Silver had borrowed these pokémon from their owners for this plan, and it was a good one.

It was… a return to form, for Zero.

After all, the odds were truly impossible. What could they do, in the face of an absolute storm of enemies such as this? They faced down the total, unmatched might of the Brittanian empire, the superpower that controlled over half the world and leeched power from the rest.

Legendary pokemon were gathered there in an unprecedented scale, the soaring embodiments of fire and ice and thunder, the guardians of the sky and sea, the pokemon that had sculpted the world in which they stood. And behind them all were the imposing figures of Dialga and Palkia, Brittania's rumored superweapons. The beasts of time and space, older than reason or comprehension.

What could Lelouch do when the world itself rallied against him? When time, space and all of the infinite universe pressed down on him to dictate his fate?

To Lelouch, it was simple.

He had already solved this problem once, by donning the mask of Zero and pulling the curtains away from the world's hypocrisy.

All he had to do was repeat it.

Become Zero once again.

Become the Void.

Underneath the Regis were the Tanoby Ruins, being lifted from the water by the rising reef of corsola. From the front, the seven ruins seemed to be arranged haphazardly.

From above, however, they formed the corners of a perfect heptagon.

Zero slammed his arm down, and the seven Regis's did the same, awakening the unown within. They seared across the ocean, tearing lines in reality as they travelled from one ruin to another, forming both the first and second heptagram within a heptagon as they travelled.

The gashes in the universe began to glow an ominous black, as bat-like images screamed from them as a dark, even mass rose from them.

"_**Behold your fears, Britannia.**_" Zero told them as the shadows and the winds span around the beast as it grew to several storeys in height, "_**Giratina… GIGANTIA!**_"

* * *

The earth shook.

Darkness screamed from the demonic symbol.

It mattered not the origin, for this was the purpose of the seal this day.

The unown gathered into one beast above the ruins.

It stood upon six great legs, each foot standing beside one of the six lesser Regis.

At regigigas' ruin, the beast's neck curved upwards, rising many hundred metres into the air.

The beast was over half a kilometre tall, proud and full of dark wrath. It stood as a mirror to Zero's soul.

It roared as it spread its wings, looking down on the mortals below.

It laughed, looking down at how pathetically small its enemies, Palkia and Dialga, each a mere five metres in height.

Giratina knew it couldn't move from this spot, lest it lose the power the unown granted it.

But it was no matter. For it was the Void, the Observer, the empty soul that awaited beyond this mortal dimension. Even if it could approach, it would not. That was the place of those lesser beings, the pitiful rabble spread out far below.

"_**GIRATINA!**_" roared the voice of the King behind it. "_**OBEY ME!**__"_

The beast roared in submission as Zero pulled a black tube from his robes and flicked out a handle with a trigger, pointing it to the beast as a gun.

Zero fired four burst of light into the beast.

"_**Protect!**_" Zero shouted. "_**Safeguard! Ominous Wind! Ancient Power! Thunder Wave! Double Team!**__"_

The beast considered the techniques it had just been taught by Zero's TM machine, and the strategy the King was proposing.

Zero stared into the eyes of the Void, and smirked. And the Void stared back, and saw an equal.

And so, it roared, splitting into dozens of beasts that acted as a powerful fence around the vast army, spreading the barrier created through the duplicates.

The barrier was made of the combined energies of Protect and Safeguard, with massive chunks of stone floating amongst them. The space within the barrier was filled with a poisonous gas that even steel-types would fall to, and the paralysis would stop any foolish enough to try and break through from escaping.

Zero turned to his men. "_**Take the non-combatants to the underground shelters!**_" he roared. "_**Arm the guards with snipers and activate the pokéblocker surrounding the shelter entrances!**_"

Zero twirled on Ryujin's back. "_**EVERYONE ELSE!**_" He shouted.

Lelouch grinned behind the faceless mask. "_**Let us make war.**_"

* * *

Under the feet of the beast, a squad of thirty men was gathered.

The fully armoured Immortal Regis turned to Lance as he examined the stone wall.

"_**So, is this operation go?**_" The Regis asked the Dragon Master.

"That isn't the proper use of the term." Lance corrected him. "But yes, for all intents and purposes, we are go."

The armoured knight nodded, then raised his arm to signal to the other men. "_**Begin, Lance.**__" _he ordered. "_**We charge at ten.**_"

Lance nodded, firing up his Geass and planting a hand on the wall.

"_**Eins.**_" The Regis began. "_**Zwei. Drei. Vier. Funf. Sechs. Sieben. Acht. Nein.**_"

The wall crumpled and the path was clear. "_**Aus.**__"_ The Regis finished, swinging his blade forward.

* * *

"LORD ZERO!"

Lelouch looked down to see a squad of men charge across the coral right under Giratina's feet, running towards the ocean. "_**TOUDOU! BRANDON!**_" he ordered the two men.

They recalled their Regis and flew over to the advance team, then sent out Toudou's regigigas and Brandon's regice, regirock and registeel, riding them down to the ground, crushing ten men immediately, then launched several Superpower attacks to take out the rest.

The world flashed black, inversing the colours for a split second.

Lelouch's blood ran cold.

'_No…' _he cursed to himself, twisting around as time had stopped. "_**No, this is not happening.**_"

**RRREEELLOOOUUCCHHEEE**

Lelouch's eyes widened.

He heard his father laugh.

**YOU TRULY ARE A FOOL**

**WHY SHOULD I PLAY YOUR WAR GAMES WHEN THE POWER OF ZERO WAS IN MY GRASP THIS WHOLE TIME**

**WHY SHOULD I LOWER MYSELF TO YOUR LEVEL**

"_**No…**_" Lelouch whispered. "_**No!**_" he shouted, shaking his head. "_**You couldn't stop me! I can stop you.**_"

The world laughed with his fathers voice.

**IT IS TOO LATE, BOY**

**DO YOU KNOW**

**DO YOU KNOW WHERE ZERO WAS FIRST ENCOUNTERED**

Cinnabar Island.

But Lelouch wasn't playing his fathers game.

"_**WHERE ARE YOU?**_" he roared. "_**FACE ME!**_"

**'|'|'||''|'''|'|'|'|''|''|'||''|''|''''''|'|'|||'|'''|'|'|''||'''|''||''**

The world flashed again and the universe began to move as nothing had happened, but as the Britannian army began to force its way through Giratina's barrier, Lelouch looked down at the ocean.

It was _black_.

No, it was green.

No, it's red.

Gold? Blue? Pink?

What's going on?

Then he saw it.

Everyone fighting was moving either forwards, backwards, upwards, downwards, or side to side.

No one was capable of moving diagonally.

Someone noticed.

Panic began to ensue.

Then came the cloud of black, white, green and purple blocks.

They ate the world.

* * *

"_The language of Zero is simple." Lelouch told C.C. that night in bed. "The purest language in the universe."_

"_So, why're you so proud of decoding it?" the witch taunted him._

_He smirked. "Binary." He said. "Replace the low-pitched sounds with zeroes and the high-pitched ones with ones. It was a code language I tried to develop, but no-one else managed to get their tongues around it." He scowled a second. "Well, Cyrus did."_

"_Hm?" C.C. asked, pushing herself to face her warlock. "Lelouch, are you being jealous of a little boy you drove to suicide?"_

"_Just a little underwhelmed at how _easy_ it was." He laughed. "It's almost enough to make me underestimate my father."_

* * *

Lelouch stood in the whiteness as souls were torn from their bodies as they were consumed.

They screamed.

The screamed so much.

Lelouch almost fell to his knees as Ryujin turned to dust.

He saw Shirley jump up, reaching for him.

He reached for her, but her fingertips blew into the cloud as she got close.

His own clothes were beginning to annihilate themselves- flying like ash in the wind.

While he stood witness.

"LELOUCH!"

The Black Prince turned around to see Suzaku grab him by the throat. "WHAT'S GOING ON?" he shouted. "WHAT'S HAPPENING TO EVERYONE?"

"He won…" Lelouch gasped, completely bare of any mask of any kind to hide behind. "He's summoned True Zero…"

"What… the FUCK ARE YOU SAYING?" Suzaku shouted as Red ran up the whiteness with C.C.

"He wasn't planning this." C.C. told them. "Nor was the Emperor. _He_ aimed for Human Instrumentality."

"Human _What?_" Suzaku shouted.

"The complete unification of all human souls." She explained. "What's happening now is something only Lelouch understands."

Lelouch sat down in the whiteness.

There were other humans below, all of them naked as each other, none of them understanding anything in the oblivion.

"Suzaku… Red… C.C.…" he looked up at them. "What was the first pokémon?"

"Mew." Red answered. "Everyone knows that."

Lelouch shook his head. "Before that." He said. "Before there was _anything_."

"Arceus." Suzaku said. "The Creator Pokémon."

Lelouch laughed bitterly as he pushed himself to his feet. "No, that's just what he wants you to think."

He turned around. "This is the power of the _very_ first pokémon!" he shouted. "The pokémon that RULES the universe! Our world DANCES to its CODE!"

A black ghost appeared behind him as he turned around to face the other remaining humans. Blocks of inky darkness, jagged shapes, an indistinct impression of a face, half of a leering, sinister face, like seeing pictures in the clouds.

"This is what the Emperor wanted." Lelouch told them. "**THIS!**" he shouted, spreading his arms around in despair as he laughed with bitter tears flowing from his Geass. "**IS MISSINGNO.!**"

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Sorry this chapter was so late. I spent ages trying to do a decent war sequence, then procrastinated and did some other stuff.

Then I re-read the war sequence I wrote for Persona, and I realised why I delayed this.

I was scared of not living up to my potential.

So, I decided, screw it.

I'll let Charles Zi Britannia have played Lelouch. I was gonna do this anyways, just further into the battle, but hey. It's all for story progression, right?

And yes. That's the secret to the secret code. Put it into notepad, mass-replace the ' with zeroes, the | with ones and run it through a Binary-English translator. There's plenty online. Just use Ctrl+H to open the replace option. Trust me, translating those messages will be worth it.

Also, I just did that. Who saw it coming?


	43. RED

Just a heads up. The next four chapters will get a bit Evangelion-esque. Then things will get Gurren Lagann. Then we'll resume our normal reading.

Also, we updated the previous chapter. It's about… 1.75 times better now.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_**Griseous Giratina. Find the error. Tear Logic Asunder.**_

_**Adamant Dialga. Preserve this state. Save this time.**_

_**Lustrous Palkia. Stop the world. Restart the universe.**_

_**Error.**_

_**Save.**_

_**Reset.**_

_**And the Missing Number shall come.**_

* * *

Below.

Water.

Red looked up to see the horizon in all directions.

He was dressed in the jeans and the red sleeveless shirt of days gone by.

He even had his old hat and rucksack.

Nor for the important question.

How the hell was Red standing on water.

"Hello there!" a familiar voice shouted. "Glad to meet you!"

Red slowly turned around. "Professor Oak?" he shouted.

"Welcome to the world of POKéMON!" the professor smiled. "My name is OAK. People affectionately refer to me as the POKéMON PROFESSOR!"

"Are you okay?" Red asked him warily as the Professor produced a pokéball from nowhere.

"This world…" Oak said regardless as he released a nidoran female. "…is inhabited far and wide by creatures called POKéMON. For some people, POKéMON are pets. Others use them for battling. As for myself… I study POKéMON as a profession."

He recalled the nidoran and the ball disappeared. "But first, tell me a little about yourself." The Professor told Red. "Are you a boy, or a girl?"

"What the crap?" Red asked, taking a step backwards.

"Let's begin with your name." The professor continued regardless. "What is it?"

"Professor Oak, it's me, Red." The teenage boy told him. "You know me."

The professor smiled.

"Now, we both know that isn't true, is it?" The professor asked as skeletal arms burst from the water to grab at Red's ankles and drag him down.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" The professor asked with a dissonant smile, sparking and flickering before Red's eyes like a bad video recording. "What's your name again?"

* * *

Charles Zi Britannia was chained to a hexagonical stone surrounded by green flames.

**IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED**

The emperor turned to see a man in a white mask looking at him. "Missing...no..."

**MY BROTHER IS ELSEWHERE**

Charles raised an eyebrow. "Then... Who...?"

**MY NAME IS M**

**THINK OF ME AS A MEDIATOR**

"Mediator..?" Charles asked.

**YES**

**BETWEEN YOU CODED AND US GLITCHES**

Charles chuckled. "You... speak as if... this were a machine..."

**THE UNIVERSE IS A MACHINE**

**A BEAUTIFULLY INFINITE MACHINE**

**MADE OF WHAT WAS CREATED AND WHAT WAS NOT CREATED**

"So... you are what was not meant to be?"

**NO**

**WE ARE WHAT GOD DID NOT WANT TO CREATE**

**WE WERE NOT CREATED**

**WE ARE**

**BECAUSE WE ARE NOT**

**DO YOU UNDERSTAND**

"No..." Charles chuckled. "You make no sense."

**YOU JUST DO NOT UNDERSTAND**

**YOUR SON UNDERSTANDS**

Charles snapped up as the figure removed his mask. "Lelouch?"

**HE IS A FINE CODE**

**PERHAPS HE CAN BECOME A CODER**

"A what?" Charles shouted.

**WHAT YOU WANTED TO BE**

**ONE WHO SEES THE CODE OF THE UNIVERSE AND CAN CHANGE IT**

**ONE WHO IS LIKE UNTO GOD**

**

* * *

**

_"Dammit!" Green Oak shouted, recalling his charmander. "I chose the wrong pokémon!"_

The world darkened and froze. "Why?" Professor Oak asked Red. "Why would he order his pokémon to use a Growl attack, when both his charmander and your bulbasaur were barely standing? The logical step would have been to use another scratch attack, like you ordered your bulbasaur to finish him with a tackle."

"So my Geass forced him to lose the battle." Red growled. "So what? I've come to terms with that a long time ago."

"But that's not the only time that's happened, has it?" Oak asked. "You only defeated Lance the first time because he kept ordering his pokémon to use agility against your poliwrath instead of actual attacks. But I digress."

Oak pressed a button on a remote control and the world ran downwards, like a fast-forwarding film reel, until stopping at a scene Red recognised.

The battle on the S.S. Anne.

"Ah, now I remember." Oak chuckled. "This was the day you traded a spearow for a farfetch'd. Dux, its name was, correct?" Oak asked. "Though you persuaded the Name Rater to change its name to Ch'Ding afterwards, despite the fact that it is a crime for anyone but the original trainer to change the nickname of a pokémon."

"Dux was a silly name." Red explained. "Ch'Ding suited it much better."

Oak smiled. "But of course." he said, pressing the button. "It certainly was a violent pokémon, wasn't it?"

The scene played was the first time Red used the farfetch'd in battle. It was against a sailor's machop, and it was brutal. It immediately jabbed at the eyes, and when the brawling pokémon tried to guard the bird used the opening to stab at it's armpits, aiming to sever tendons.

Oak froze the scene. "You knew that a pokémon with a temper like this needed more training." he said. "Pokémon aren't meant to be mortally wounded in battles. It's sport, a contest, not cock-fighting, after all. A pokémon this violent needed to be controlled, not encouraged.  
"Yet you used it against Green's raticate." Oak continued. "Yes, you had run out of other pokémon, but it was only a battle. No one needed to get hurt."

Oak pressed the button.

_The rat was slammed to the wall by the leek, then jabbed several times in the chest with great fury. Green recalled the pokémon, but the farfetch'd blocked the ball's path._

_"Knock it off!" Green shouted. "You win, okay!"_

_Red let it continue for a few more seconds, recalling the pokémon as the raticate vomited blood._

_Green recalled his pokémon "Smell ya later." he growled, running to the closest pokémon centre._

The scene followed Green as he gave his pokémon to be treated.

It followed him pacing around as his raticate was sent for emergency surgery for the internal damage.

It showed him rushing to the nurse as she came out of the surgery room with a somber look on his face.

It showed Green collapsing to his knees.

It showed him clutching a pokéball with dull red and grey sides.

It showed his tears.

* * *

"Brendan!"

The World Eater turned around as a girl that was covered in mud, wearing only her underwear and a grass skirt tackled him to the ground. "WH-who are you!" he asked.

The girl laughed as she straddled atop him. "Don't you remember me?" she asked him, stroking the side of his cheek. "All the time we spent together?"

He squinted as his brain hurt. "Wh-no... should I..?"

She grabbed the back of his head and headbutted him. "Damn right you should!"

* * *

_Green knelt before a grave, but stood up when he heard the footsteps behind him. "Hey, Red!" he waved with a smile. "What brings you here? Is your pokémon dead?"_

_"Pika!"_

_"Hey, it's alive!" Green laughed, goading Red into a battle. "At least I can make them faint. Let's go!"_

Oak paused the scene. "He wanted to see if you were still using Dux." he explained. "If it was going to hurt any more pokémon. He saw that you'd tamed it, so he forgave you. He forgave his oldest friend for the murder of one of his pokémon."

"I..." Red whispered. "I had no idea..."

"You, wouldn't, would you?"

Red turned around to see Green, glaring at you. "Everything you do, it's all about you. You never say a word, but everything just goes your way, doesn't it? It doesn't matter that I spent all night training my pokémon. It doesn't matter that I actually _tried_ to fill my pokédex for gramps when you just ran around knocking down gyms and taking out the Rockets."

"Was this the time they were trafficking pokémon, or when they took Saffron City hostage?" Red snapped right back at him.

"You see, all about you." Green sighed. "You don't understand what the Rocket's were fighting for. Britannia came in and stole their homes. The soldiers can just waltz into the slums that now serve as their homes, take what they want and who they want. See that guy?" Green asked, pointing to a Rocket that was standing guard inside Pokémon Tower. "Shinichi Kurosawa. His brother died in the invasion. His wife from three and a half separate STD's when she was dragged to the whorehouses and raped over and over and over again while he was in some concentration camp. Don't get me started on what they did to his children. Trafficking pokémon and holding a city hostage is _nothing_ to what Britannia did to him."

"But you see, it's not me." A younger Red told his older self. "It's not my family. In your head..." he shook his head. "In your head they are fighting."

"And that's fine." Green told Red with a shrug. "Because it's always about you. Survival of the fittest. They're only numbers."

Oak laughed. "What!" Red shouted, turning to glare at the professor.

"Oh it's just that you're so much like your father." the professor said. "You never asked for the Rocket's names, did you?" he asked. "With their slanty eyes and angry faces, they're all the same. Rocket Grunt is the only name they need, just like Japan only needed Area Eleven for a name."

"But at least Britannia stopped with the Numbers." Green told him. "You just took people who looked _kinda_ similar, used similar pokémon, and you gave them all the same face." he said. "Unless they were important, it didn't matter who they were, right?"

"But you _were_ creative, I'll give you that." Professor Oak told him. "Everyone was a Hiker, a Youngster, but I'm not quite sure where Pokéfreak came from," he chuckled. "Anyone who didn't fit your little pattern? Well that's easy. They were a Cool Trainer, weren't they?"

* * *

"This is hell, isn't it?" Clair asked.

"How so?" Lance asked her.

"Because of all the people I could have been trapped for eternity with, it had to be you." she groaned. "What did I do to deserve this?"

CLAP

The two of them looked at the old man rubbing his hands together with a grin. "Let's find out, shall we?" he asked. "Come along children!"

* * *

_"Green... I'm disappointed in you." Oak sighed. "I came when I heard that you beat the Elite Four. But when I got here, you'd already lost! Green, do you understand why you lost?"_

_Without waiting for an answer, Oak turned to the new Champion. "Red, you understand that your victory was not your own doing. You had your Geass to make sure you won every single time, that you got the strongest pokémon, that they grew as fast as you needed them too. You're even making me choose your side over my own grandson. He knew about your Geass, but he never complained. Not once. Because he knew that the Geass was your talent, and he had to overcome that with hard work, because complaining never achieved anything. He was a good friend, but you left him behind as a bitter, petty rival that couldn't keep up."  
_

"Stop it." Red growled.

"Hey, I even helped you half the time." Green pointed out. "Remember Saffron? I kept the pathway clear and held the door open as you went and became the hero of Britannia. After all, it's not like I wanted to be praised as the one who crushed an oppressed people's last hope at freedom."

"But you joined me." Lelouch said. "You joined those you stomped all over simply because that was the side I was on, and it sounds fun."

"That's the only reason you do anything, isn't it?" Green asked, circling around Red. "Fun. You don't care who's right or wrong. When that comes into the equation, you freeze up and lash out at those closest to you. You ditched Misty the _second_ you thought that she was only with you for your Geass. You ditched Lelouch when you found out he killed your mother, second time around, but all was forgotten when he told you what she did to Nunnally." he shook his head. "You're still just a kid, aren't you, Grandmaster Red?"

"**Stop it.**"

_**But it's true**_

_**You cannot deny reality  
**_

The world turned into a dark cave, devoid of anything other that Red and Mewtwo.

* * *

Mars sat in the darkness of space, alone with her thoughts.

She'd been alone with her thoughts a lot lately.

It wasn't like the isolated prison cell had much in the terms of entertainment or company.

"You're amazing."

Mars turned to the blonde woman sitting on a moon some distance to the right. "Almost all the other Geass users have gone insane already." the woman said. "But not you. You've got it all together, don't you?"

"I live a simple life." Mars replied. "Destructo Ergo Sum. I destroy, therefore I am."

The woman giggled. "What?" Mars asked her.

"Well, how long has it been since you destroyed anything?" she asked. "In fact, the last thing that was broken around you _was_ you."

Mars leered at the woman. "And how was I broken?" she asked. "I was captured, I was beaten, my team annihilated, but I'm still standing." she said.

The woman smiled sweetly.

"Then why are you sitting?" the blonde asked.

* * *

_**You are selfish**_

"Vengeance." Red said. "Are you against me too?"

**_Lance. Oak. Mr Pokémon. Bill. All of them told you how pokémon deserve your respect as your partners_**

"And you are." Red told him. "Did I ever treat any of you with anything less than the respect you deserve?"

**_Not I. But consider the weak you abandoned_**

Ash blinked. "What?"

**_You took us from our homes and dumped the weak, the unwanted, the spares in your computer. Yes, they lived comfortably, but you took them from what the knew and what they loved and abandoned them_**

"So does everyone." Red replied. "You know that I didn't mean any harm."

**_The road to hell is paved with good intentions. _**_**But you never had any intentions beyond your own greatness. You never even chose a road to walk. **_**_You are guilty of the greatest crime of all_**

"And what would that be?"

**_Apathy_**

**_You just don't care  
_**

* * *

Ash sat in his bedroom in pallet town.

"Did you ever stop to think about any of us?" a krabby on his desk asked. "Did you ever think about how we felt?"

"I had a family." one ratatta said. "You kept me for a few levels but abandoned my when you got to Mount Moon. You didn't even have the decency to release me back into the wild."

"Do you know?" a gyrados outside his window asked him. "When a pokémon evolves, its personality completely changes? Why do you think so many magikarp refuse to become gyrados in the wild? Do you think we _like_ being angry all the time? Do you think that we're incapable of forgiving those that hurt us? That we don't _want_ a calmer existence?"

"But you took care of me." Vee said. "After Team Rocket did all those experiments on me, you took me in. You helped me control my transformations, to ease the pain, and you made me strong. Because I was interesting." The pokémon said. "I wasn't like the other eevee. I could be anything you needed me to be, and I could change when you needed me to be. It was like having a party of ten pokémon for you, wasn't it?"

"But you're not kind." the Snorlax in the corner told him. "You're practical and pragmatic. You're like one of those children who spends all their times playing those games on their computers. You don't care about good or evil. You don't care about right or wrong. You don't care about feelings."

"All that matters to you," Primape said. "Is what works. And what does not."

"No, that's not true." Poliwrath glared. "What matters most is whether or not it's any _**FUN.**_"

* * *

"But that would be too innocent." Charmander said. "But you see, you want to be the best. So you think that's our goal too."

"And you punish the ones who try to voice their own views." Squirtle said. "Those that disobey get left in their pokéballs. Those that are weak never see the outside of the box again. Those that fight so hard for you, only to be outclassed by a more interesting pokémon you stole, they don't even know what they did wrong to deserve the prison sentence you gave them."

"Your worse than Britannia." Bulbasaur said. "At least Britannia has the decency to declare their truth. You just keep your mouth shut and let everyone shower you with praise, about how all your pokémon love you."

"We don't love you." Pikachu said. "We're scared of you. You think your Geass doesn't affect pokémon? How could we look at everyone in the world bow to you and not be affected?"

"Did you find your heart?" Ashford asked. "I found many hearts. Look at all the hearts that I have!"

"I did not find a heart." Lelouch told his younger brother. "But I found something better. I found that I could be happy without a heart."

"But you need a heart to be happy." Ashford said, holding his pikachu. "Happiness comes from the heart!"

"Love comes from the heart, but happiness is in the mind." Lelouch explained with a smile. "I realised that I could be happy as a heartless monster, and that's what I became."

Ashford's face fell in horror as Lelouch smiled. "I am happy with what I am;" Lelouch said, his Geass flaring to life. "**I do not need a heart.**"

Ashford screamed.

His scream destroyed his brother.

His scream destroyed his room.

His scream destroyed his pokémon.

And that was when Ashford realised.

He was surrounded by pokémon.

But none of them loved him.

He was just a monster to them.

A thief.

A kidnapper.

A slavedriver.

A machine.

A demon.

* * *

"But I love you."

* * *

Ash raised his head and turned around to see Misty.

"I love you, Ash." she said.

"Brother?" another voice called behind him.

Ash span around.

Nunnally...

"I love you too." she said.

There was another person.

His older brother.

Lellow...

"I pity you." he said.

Lellow..?

"Look at you." Lelouch said with a grin. "You're a brainless idiot. You really think that you're incapable of feeling? You knew exactly what you were doing."

Ash's blood froze.

"How could anything go wrong for you?" Lelouch continued. "How could anyone hate you? Who can you actually say is your enemy?"

Lelouch knelt at his brother. "The Geass of Defiance. You are your own worst enemy. Everything exists for you to wave your middle finger at and smile."

"Remember threesomes in the hot-tub?" Misty asked him. "That was fun, wasn't it? Can't we just be like that forever?"

"We could be a family again Ash." Nunnally told him. "Me, you, Big Brother and Auntie C.C.. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"You could even keep training me as your little sidekick." Lelouch smirked. "Even though you know damn well that you will never be as good as I am."

Lelouch laughed. "Hell, if I left Nunnally behind and abandoned her like you abandoned us, not even your Geass of Defiance could have stopped me from ruling the world with an iron fist by the time I was fifteen."

"I didn't abandon you..." Ash whispered.

"Liar." Lelouch told him. "You stole your Geass and it told you that Cyrus was going to kill mom and hurt Nunnally, so you got our father to wipe your memories so you could come back when it was safe. You're a coward that doesn't care about anything or anyone other than yourself. And ain't it fun?"

* * *

_Ain't it fun when you're always on the run_  
_ Ain't it fun when your friends despise what you've become_  
_ Ain't it fun when you get so high,_  
_ Well...that you just can't come_  
_ Ain't it fun when you know that you're gonna die young_

_It's such fun.  
_

* * *

"Stop it." Red snarled.

"Would you prefer a different song then?" Lelouch laughed. "How did it go? _I wanna be, the very best, like no-one ever was?_"

WHAM

Red's fist impacted against a barrier that surrounded Lelouch.

He grinned.

"So you're finally defying me." Lelouch pointed out. "Putting that Geass to good work, or are you actually giving a damn?"

* * *

Red thought about his journey so far.

How he had defended his pokémon from the worst of attacks.

He had endured fire, ice and lightning for them.

How his pokémon had defended him.

It was unfair to say that he didn't care.

But it would be unfair to say that he didn't treat them like tools.

Red was at fault.

Red knew what he did with faults.

He got rid of them and replaced them with strengths.

Defy weakness.

Defy emotions.

_**WIN**_

* * *

#000  
Red  
Steel/Dragon  
The Conqueror Pokémon

* * *

Red clenched his fist as the world melted into white.

He was dressed in jeans and a white T-shirt, with a red, sleeveless jacket around his shoulders.

Black, fingerless gloves were wrapped around his knuckles as a red and white cap appeared in his hands.

"Are you ready?" a man asked the boy.

Suzaku, C.C. and Lelouch were standing behind him.

Red spun the hat onto his head and walked towards them. "Let's go kick some ass."

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Next three chapters will explain just what the hell is going on. Chapter after that will involve asskicking of epic levels.

And no, I didn't rip off Farla. I ripped off the Cranberries.

_**Varanus:** Rock. Breaking down Red and the world he lives in. So, now you understand. His Geass was a meta way of explaining at the bad AI in the games, and the basis of Red's character was the theme song for the original series of the show. And SamJaz made that idea terrifyingly epic._

Next chapter, I'll be doing Suzaku. And his ability to use pokémon attacks will finally be explained._  
_


	44. BIRD

So, it appears I did a decent job raping Red's mind. Let's do Suzaku now.

And I recommend listing to "To All People", from the "Fragile Dreams" soundtrack. Lunardragon2607 did an excellent job extending it for your listening pleasure.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_A victory gained through dishonest means is worthless_

_The ends do not justify the means_

_But desires without actions are meaningless_

_Mankind cannot obtain anything, without first giving something of equal value_

_Lives cannot be saved without lives being lost_

_Traitor_

* * *

Suzaku stood in a wide, golden wheat field. They sky above him was a dull gray, but the wheat around him shone beautifully.

Suzaku brushed his hands through the grains.

They felt beautiful.

"Ow." He winced, bringing his hand to his face.

He'd pricked his finger.

There was a bead of blood welling up on his fingertip.

He put the finger in his mouth and sucked at the cut.

**How Does It Taste?**

The voice was like iron slabs slamming against granite.

Suzaku didn't hear the voice.

It reverberated in his very soul.

Suzaku twisted around, taking his finger from his mouth.

A tall figure in a black cloak stood there.

It brushed a hand through the wheat.

_He was a skeleton._

**Your Blood.** The figure clarified. **How Does It Taste?**

"Uh…" Suzaku thought. "Bloody?"

**A Good Start.** The figure said. **Continue.**

"Uh, kinda like copper, but not unpleasant." Suzaku decided. "It's warm, full of life. It's thicker than water, but it still runs."

**Very Good.** Another drop of blood appeared on Suzaku's finger. **Now This One.**

Suzaku licked it. "The same-" he stopped himself. "No, no this isn't my blood, is it?"

**You Have A Good Palette. **The figure complimented. **That Is Your Fathers Blood.**

Suzaku paled.

More blood.

**You Have So Much Blood On Your Hands.** The figure said, a shadow of a skeletal grin appearing under its hood. **Would You Like To Taste It All?**

"Are you Death?" Suzaku asked.

**Yes.** The hooded figure said. **But Do Not Despair. You Are Not Dead.**

"Why am I here?" Suzaku asked.

He felt a quiet chuckle that shook him to the core of his soul.

**You Are Here To Work.**

* * *

Silver stood by the waters edge.

The water was silent- completely still.

Silver bent down and picked up a flattened, round stone.

He threw it into the water.

It bounced.

One, two, three, four, five, six times.

The ripples spread through each other.

They widened and flattened.

The ripples faded into nothing.

The water was still once more.

Nothing had changed.

Only now, Silver no longer had a stone to throw.

* * *

Suzaku stabbed his shovel into the mound of manure in Death's stable.

When Death told him that he was here to work, this wasn't what he had expected.

Still, it wasn't like Suzaku had a right to complain. Death had told to think about what the lesson might be while he worked, so there was a purpose to this.

He poured the manure from his shovel and into the bucket, then stabbed the shovel into the pile and carried the bucket to the manure bin.

Hard work is necessary to succeed?

One needs to get their hands dirty to achieve a clean world?

What is the lesson here?

Suzaku dumped the crap into a large box and walked back into the stable. The pale rapidash pawed the hay as Suzaku dumped the bucket next to the mound and patted its grey flames.

Do for others what they can't do for themselves?

* * *

Brendan walked through the cave, looking at memories in the crystals.

Most of them he couldn't remember, but he knew that they had happened.

His memories had been changed.

His very being had been changed.

Who was he before? Who is he now?

Does he even want to go back to who he was?

Was he even supposed to exist?

Does he have to die so some other boy who had the body before him can live?

* * *

Suzaku opened the door and walked into Death's office.

Death sat behind a desk in the centre of the room. With his hood down, Suzaku could see the bleached bone of his skull, the hollows of the Reaper's eye sockets, and Suzaku felt with a shaking sense of understanding in his heart who exactly he was standing before.

"I've cleaned out the stables." Suzaku reported.

**I See. Did You Learn Anything?**

Suzaku sat down on a chair in front of the desk. "I thought about it." Suzaku admitted. "I wondered if you wanted me to realise that I needed to get my hands dirty to achieve anything. I wondered if you wanted me to humble myself and focus on the task at hand. I even thought that maybe, maybe there was a deep lesson about how with work, anything can be made into something for someone, that everything has a purpose."

He smirked. "But then I realised your situation. You were up to your knees in horseshit and you didn't want to be the one to shift it."

Death laughed.

**Remarkable.** Death eventually told him. **Most Humans Are Too Imaginative To See The Obvious.**

"The obvious?" Suzaku asked as Death picked up a drink in a triangular glass containing a pink cocktail.

**Why Is There A Cherry On A Stick In This Glass?** Death asked him. **It's Not As If It Does Anything For The Flavour. Why Does Anyone Take A Perfectly Good Drink And Then Put In A Cherry On A Pole?**

Suzaku didn't have an answer for that one. The question was just so… _random_.

**I Mean, Take These For Example.** Death continued, holding a canapé between his bony fingers. **Mushrooms, Yes, Chicken, Yes, Cream, Yes, I Have Nothing Against Any Of Them. But Why In The Name Of Sanity Mince Them All Up And Put Them In Little Pastry Cases?**

"To make them nicer." Suzaku answered. "We do it because the end result tastes better."

**But Does It?** Death asked. **There Are Better Ways To Serve These Ingredients. They Seem Only To Exists So People Have Something To Do With Their Hands. How Are Yours By The Way?**

Suzaku looked down. They were covered in calluses and muck. "Filthy." He said.

**How Do You Feel?**

Suzaku thought about the question. He was clearly being tested. "Satisfied." He said. "But why am I here?"

**I Told You This. **Death replied. **You Are Here To Work. **

"For how long?" Suzaku asked. "I have other things that I need to do."

**Like What?**

"Like stop Missingno.." Suzaku answered, getting angry. "Stop Lelouch, bring everyone back!"

**How?**

Suzaku froze.

**The World Has Ended. Life Is No More. There Is Nothing Left.**

"Then why are you here?" Suzaku asked. "What purpose does Death have if there's no-one left?"

**When You Can Answer That Question, Then You Can Leave.**

Suzaku blinked as Death stood up.

**Come.**

"Eh?" Suzaku asked.

**I Don't Know About You, But I Could Murder A Curry.**

* * *

The place Death took Suzaku was a misty restaurant in the plane of nothingness.

People passed them in a haze.

Or, at least, Suzaku thought of them as people.

But they didn't seem right.

**They Are Shades.** Death explained, blowing on his curry. **This Is What Remains Of Those That Were Stripped Away.**

"Why was I not taken?" Suzaku asked the Reaper, ignoring his own Rogan Josh.

**You Are Part Of The Race.**

"The Race?" Suzaku asked. "What race?"

**The Race To Complete Your Geass.**

"I don't have a Geass." Suzaku pointed out.

**And Yet You Compete In The Race.** Death told him. **So You Clearly Received One. Yet It Did Not Manifest.**

"I never kissed a Code." Suzaku told the Reaper.

**A Code Kissed You. **Death said. **One That Was Not Meant To Be.**

"What?" Suzaku asked.

**Are You Aware Of The Entity That Is Nemo?** Death asked him. **It Is A Facet Of Nunnally Vi Britannia's Psyche, One With Control Of Her Powers As Half A Code.**

"Wait, so Nunnally kissed me and I never knew about it?" Suzaku asked. "When? How? She's in a wheelchair!"

**Nemo Is Not Limited By Such Things. **

Suzaku rubbed his forehead. "So, when I was shot… the day Lelouch and I met C.C.… I survived because that pushed me into a Code?"

**Correct. From There, You Evolved Further.**

Suzaku leant back in his chair.

This was a lot to take in.

**Are You Going To Eat Your Spring Roll?**

Suzaku sat forward. "You're a skeleton." He said. "How do you eat?"

**Even Anthropomorphic Personifications Of Concepts Get Hungry.** Death shrugged, his fork hovering over Suzaku's plate.

"That's not what I meant." Suzaku replied. "Wouldn't everything… fall out?"

**That Would Make A Mess. Can I Have Your Roll?**

Suzaku pushed the plate forward and Death took the spring roll. "This is insane…" Suzaku sighed. "The world ended, I can't do anything about it, and now Death is eating my spring roll."

**You Did Say That I Could Have It.**

"That's not the point." Suzaku sighed. "Euphie… where is she?"

* * *

Death pointed at one of two figures walking in a gray garden. "Th-that's her..?" Suzaku whispered. "Can she see us?"

**Humans Don't Want To. **Death said. **It's Much Easier For Them To Cover Their Eyes And Pretend That We're Not Here, Especially Now That Their Mortal Frames No Longer Exist.**

"Does she miss me?" Suzaku asked.

**Can You Not Hear It?** Death asked. **Or Is It Just Easier Not To Listen?**

Suzaku looked at the towering figure, then closed his eyes.

He cleared his mind.

He listened.

He listened.

"Silence." He told Death. "I don't hear anything."

**How Do I Speak Without A Tongue?**

"You don't." Suzaku replied. "My ears aren't hearing you, my soul is."

**Why Would That Change For Someone Without A Body?**

Suzaku paused.

**You Have Heard, Yet You Do Not Listen. Words Spoken Are Empty When One Considers The Words That Were Not.**

Suzaku looked down at the hazy ground. "So that's it then?" he asked. "I'm here so you can tell me that I'm not a good listener?"

**Are You A Fan Of Music? **Death asked. **Do You Play An Instrument?**

"WHAT HAS THIS GOT TO DO WITH ANYTHING?" Suzaku shouted at Death.

The Reaper turned around with a guitar. **A Guitar, For Example, Is A Means Of Baring Your Soul Through Six Strings.**

CRUNCH

Suzaku pulled his fist from Death's skull. "Don't fuck with me." Suzaku hissed, his shoulders shaking. "I've… I've nothing left… and you… you don't even care…"

**That's What Your Father Told Me.**

Suzaku's head shot up.

**He Said I Loved This.** Death continued. **Many Do. He Took Great Offence At The Pride I Take In My Work.**

"Do you enjoy killing people?" Suzaku asked through clenched teeth.

**I Do Not Kill People. People Kill People. I Come Next.**

Suzaku unclenched his fist.

His fingers were sore from how tight he was holding them.

**You Do Not See People At Their Best In Their Job. **Death told Suzaku, sitting down in the hazy grass. **Most Of The Time, They Aren't Happy To See You Either. **

The Grim Reaper rubbed the brow of his skull with his finger bones. **You May As Well Know This. ** He told Suzaku. **Down In The Deepest Kingdom Of The Sea, Where There Is No Light, No Pokémon, There Lives A Type Of Creature With No Brain, No Eyes And No Mouth. It Does Nothing But Live And Put Forth Petals Of Perfect Crimson Where None Are There To See. It Is Nothing Except A Tiny **_yes_** In The Night. And Yet... It Has Enemies That Bear It A Vicious, Unbending Malice, Who Wish Not Only For Its Tiny Life To Be Over But Also That It Had Never Existed. Are You With Me So Far?**

"I…" Suzaku stopped, thinking about it. "Yes." He nodded, sitting down next to Death.

**Good.** Death nodded. **Now, Imagine What They Think Of Humanity. **

Suzaku did. "Who are they?" he asked.

**Those Who Are Not.** Death replied. **They Are The Leftover Stuff That Was Never Made, Those That Scream NO From The Oblivion Because They Were Never Made Into A Yes. They Want Because They Are Not. They Came Unbidden Because They Were Never Made. They Are Those That No One Ever Cared For.**

"And you want me to sympathise with the ones that did this?" Suzaku asked. "Are you saying that humans are in the wrong?"

**Humans Are Human.** Death replied. **Where The Rising Angel Meets The Falling Ape.**

"It's the other way around." Suzaku said. "It's where the Rising Ape meets the Falling Angel."

**No.** Death replied. **Angels Fly. They Seek To Rise. Humans Are The Apes That Fell From The Tree. Your Poet Was Wrong.**

Suzaku sighed. This was hard.

This was absurd.

"I don't have time for this." Suzaku repeated, standing upright.

**There Is No Time. **

"There's still a last minute."

**I Am The Last Minute.**

"There's still hope." Suzaku pressed on. "There's always hope. Justice will prevail."

**Really?** Death laughed bitterly. **Then Take What's Left Of The Universe And Grind It Down Into The Finest Powder, Then Sieve It Through The Finest Sieve And Show Me One Atom Of Justice. **

"Don't be stup-"

**And Yet You Act Like There Is Some Kind Of Rightness In The Universe By Which Everything Is Judged Fairly.**

"Humans need Justice." Suzaku replied. "Otherwise, there's no point."

**There Is No Justice. **Death told him, standing up and beginning to walk away. **There Is Only Me.**

"What about mercy?" Suzaku asked, looking after the Reaper.

**You Do Not Know The Meaning Of The Word.**

* * *

Mercy.

It was a good thing, just like Justice.

They were both good things.

But you can only have one.

* * *

Justice.

Good Things Happen To Good People.

Bad Things Happen To Bad People.

And All Is Right With The World.

* * *

Mercy.

Good Things Happen To Bad People.

Bad Things Happen To Good People.

And All Is Right With The World.

* * *

"_You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any one would sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles._"

**Matthew 5:38-41**,

* * *

Can you see the problem here?

* * *

_''Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?"  
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times." _

**Matthew 18**

* * *

Why should they get away with it?

* * *

Justice is easy. It just feels so _right._

Because, that's what it is. Reward those that deserve a reward. Punish those that don't.

But not Mercy.

Mercy is when you help those that don't deserve it.

Mercy isn't giving money to the homeless, that's merely Charity.

Mercy is to love them despite the fact that they spitefully use you.

Mercy is to let evil deeds go unpunished.

Mercy is wrong.

* * *

_"Turn around." Suzaku ordered. "Slowly."_

_No response._

_"Didn't you hear me?" Suzaku asked, pointing his gun at Zero. "I'm telling you to turn around, slowly."_

_"__**Euphemia happily massacred defenceless Japanese!**__" Zero declared, turning around. "__**Yet, for that woman, you—**__"_

_"Geass sure is a convenient power." Suzaku stated, walking towards the terrorist with his gun. "You hide in the dark, and give the responsibility to others. Arrogant and sly, that is who you truly are. Kallen!" he shouted. Zero glanced in the direction of the sound of Kallen's gasp in shock. "Do you not want to know Zero's true identity?" Suzaku asked._

_"__**She already knows.**__" Zero announced. "__**As would you if you joined with me when I invited you.**__"_

_Suzaku snarled. "What did you just say?"_

_"__**I said that there is no reason for there to be secrets among friends.**__" Zero announced, reaching up and removing his mask. "__**Suzaku.**__"_

_Suzaku stared in shock as Lelouch discarded the useless mask, then took a deep breath and tossed his gun aside. "I cannot believe this." He stated._

_"__**What, that I'm Zero?**__" Lelouch asked. "__**Leader of the Order of the Black Knights? The one who always told you that one day I would declare war on the Holy Britannian Empire? The man about to conquer the world? How did you not figure this out already?**__"_

_"You're right; I should have arrested you earlier." Suzaku sighed._

_"__**Oh, so you did work it out?**__" Lelouch asked._

_"I didn't want to believe it at first." Suzaku replied. "So I kept myself in denial, because I wanted to believe in you. But… you kept lying, to me and Euphie." He glared. "Even to Nunnally you __lied__."_

_"__**Yes. I lied to protect her.**__" Lelouch told him. __**"**__**But now, Nunnally has been captured. Suzaku, can we fight later? For Nunnally, can we fight later? Together, there is nothing we can't do.**__"_

_"Don't be so naïve." Suzaku told him, drawing a sword. "Before all this happened, you should have joined with Euphie!" he shouted, and the sword burst into blue flames. "If you had worked together with Euphie, then the world…"_

_"__**Now who's the naïve one? That's in the **__**past**__**.**__" Lelouch snarled. "__**I cannot change what has happened! IT'S OVER! Didn't you kill your father too? Suzaku, you can regret it all you want later, but right now…**__"_

_"__NO!__" Suzaku shouted, getting ready to run Lelouch through with his burning blade. "You betrayed the world at the very very last minute… WELL NOW THE WORLD'S BETRAYING YOU!" he shouted. "YOUR WISH WILL NEVER COME TRUE!"_

_"__**IDIOT!**__" Lelouch shouted, unleashing a mewtwo from its great ball. "__**The world will not spin if you rely on glorious thinking!**__"_

_Suzaku threw a master ball into the air and Lancelot charged from it, the two pokémon colliding in the air._

_"__**Suzaku, I want to make a deal.**__" Lelouch stated as the two pokémon's energies sparked across the room. "__**The person who told you about the Geass has taken Nunnally and is hiding her behind this door.**__" He explained._

_"These things of the future are of no concern of yours!" Suzaku shouted, his Geass forbidding him from crossing the event horizon of chaos energy that was between him and Lelouch. "THE FACT THAT YOU EXIST IS AN ERROR! YOU! ARE NOT! FIT! TO EXIST! IN THIS! __WORLD!__"_

_Lelouch drew his sword and charged. "__**SUZAKU!**__" he screamed._

_"__LELOUCH!__" Suzaku shouted, ignoring his Geass and rushing into hell itself to kill his closest friend._

* * *

**Your Friend Was Begging For Mercy.**

Suzaku slammed the book shut and turned to the skull that was leering over his shoulder. "He didn't deserve it." Suzaku growled.

**Didn't He?** Death asked. **I Would Have Him Put Down As One Most Deserving Of Mercy At That Moment.**

"He destroyed Euphie." Suzaku snarled. "You know how many people he's killed."

**You Misunderstand The Purpose Of Mercy. **The Reaper told him. **Mercy Is Not There For Good People.**

"He would have just gone onto hurt more people." Suzaku said.

**Perhaps. **Death shrugged. **Such Is War. One Will Risk Everything In The Pursuit Of Happiness.**

"Happiness?" Suzaku snarled. "The one who deserves happiness was EUPHIE!"

**Euphemia Li Britannia. **Death nodded. **You Two Make Quite The Couple: Absolute Justice And Absolute Mercy.**

Suzaku clenched his teeth together, trying to stop himself from entering another pointless argument with an enemy he couldn't kill-

When did he start thinking of Death as an enemy?

"What do you think of people?" Suzaku asked him.

**They Are The Harvest.**

Suzaku stood up and walked out of the library without another word.

* * *

_**Lord, We Know There Is No Good Order Except That Which We Create. **_

_**There Is No Hope But Us. **_

_**There Is No Mercy But Us. **_

_**There Is No Justice. **_

_**There Is Just Us.**_

_**All Things That Are, Are Ours. **_

_**But We Must Care.**_

_**For If We Do Not Care, We Do Not Exist.**_

_**If We Do Not Exist, Then There Is Nothing But Blind Oblivion.**_

_**And Even Oblivion Must End One Day.**_

_**Lord, Will You Grant Me Just A Little Time? **_

_**For The Proper Balance Of Things. **_

_**To Return What Was Given. **_

_**For The Sake Of Prisoners And The Flight Of Birds.**_

_**Lord, What Can The Harvest Hope For, If Not For The Care Of The Reaper Man?**_

* * *

"Ya know, he doesn't use a scythe properly." The bearded old man standing next to Suzaku told him once the boy finished reading the prayer on the wall. "Yer supposed to cut a whole bunch in a row, but not him." the man laughed. "Oh no, he has to cut them down one at a time he does. Each stalk gets one-to-one treatment. Poetic, innit?"

"Why?" Suzaku asked. "The reaper doesn't listen to the harvest."

"That's exactly what _he_ said." The man said with a frown. "The Death that was supposed to replace this one, before our Death wrote that there on the wall. He wore even a crown, the bastard."

"What's so bad about a crown?" Suzaku asked.

"Death shouldn't wear a crown." The old man told him, shaking his head. "Death shouldn't want to rule."

Suzaku pondered this.

"What does he mean?" he asked the man. "There is no Justice. There is only us."

The man put a hand on Suzaku's shoulder. "Because good things don't happen to good people and bad things don't happen to bad people. Life's unfair, and it'd just be cruel if Death was fair."

"Why would that be cruel?" Suzaku asked, dumbfounded.

"Because Justice is fair." The man replied. "No-one said it was nice."

"So he's supposed to be the final mercy." Suzaku nodded.

The comforter of the comfortless.

Lover of the unloved.

The Stealer of Souls.

Defeater of Empires.

Swallower of Oceans.

Thief of Years.

The Ultimate Reality.

Harvester of Mankind.

"What can the harvest hope for…" Suzaku read, "If not for the care of the reaper man?"

The man patted Suzaku on the shoulder. "I'm off to the kitchen for a fry-up. Fancy a sausage?"

"Thank you." Suzaku bowed. "But I'm fine."

"Suit yerself." The old man chuckled, hobbling off down the staircase.

"One last thing." Suzaku added. "Why did Death get me to clean the stables?"

The old man stopped. "Do you know what happens to boys who ask too many questions?" he asked.

"What?" Suzaku asked, turning to face the mans back.

The old man shrugged. "Buggered if I know." He decided, setting off at a walk again. "Probably get answers, and it'd serve 'em right 'nall."

* * *

Suzaku went to muck out the stables.

He'd missed something.

There was a load of manure to move, but no-one had asked Suzaku to work.

He did it because he needed an answer.

Death Cared.

He cared about the Harvest.

He cared about people.

It was in his own, messed up way, but he cared.

And he wanted Suzaku to understand mercy.

So how does shovelling shit teach you to be merciful?

It's a disgusting job.

You work damn hard in horrible conditions for next to no pay.

But someone has to do it.

Suzaku stopped there.

Someone has to do it.

It's a horrible job, but it has to be done.

Someone needs to be a villain in order to make the heroes do what's right.

Suzaku shook his head.

No, that's not it.

Too easy.

It's too philosophical.

The answer's obvious.

Death said it was.

So what could be more obvious in the job of shovelling shit, other than there's a lot of it and Death doesn't want to do it.

_He cares._

Suzaku froze.

_It's a horrible job, but Death can't do it._

_Why?_

_Because Death carries a scythe._

_A scythe that cuts each individual stalk carefully and lovingly._

_A scythe of mercy that ends the pain and suffering._

_One that isn't covered in crap._

"It's a horrible job, and it needs doing." Suzaku realised. "But it's not the only job that needs doing."

_And it needs doing with care._

Suzaku dropped the shovel.

_Justice is fair. Justice is not nice._

_Mercy is unfair. Mercy is nice._

_Where is the go-between?_

_The middle ground?_

Redemption.

* * *

Forgiveness.

Temporary offset of Justice granted by Mercy.

Not forgetting the crime.

Merely setting the matter aside.

Was he even incapable of that?

* * *

Suzaku stood on the roof of Death's home, resting his forearms on the corrugated iron fence as he looked over the golden Wheatfield's and the black mountains in the distance.

He couldn't tell if they were actual mountains, or just shadows of mountains.

Well, not that that mattered right now.

Eventually, an old friend of his arrived and leant on the fence next to Suzaku. "I thought I'd find you here." He commented.

"What, in the house of Death?" Suzaku asked him.

"On the roof." Lelouch replied. "How've you been?"

"Been shovelling shit since I got here." Suzaku answered. "You?"

"Quite good." Lelouch replied with a smirk. "I have a plan."

"Wasn't it you that said that we'd lost?" Suzaku asked.

"I tend to have panic attacks when someone throws a sizable spanner into the works." Lelouch joked. "Of course, for my plan to work, I intend to throw the biggest spanner of them all."

"You always knew how to ask for a favour." Suzaku sighed, before standing upright.

Lelouch stood up and faced him.

SMACK

Lelouch fell to the ground from the impact of Suzaku's fist.

Suzaku was launched against the iron railings by Lelouch's energy blast.

"Where'd you learn that trick?" Suzaku asked him.

"I'll tell you on the way." Lelouch told him, getting to his feet and walking over to his friend to help him up. "C.C.'s downstairs. We just need to pick up our last teammate and we're ready to go."

"Red?" Suzaku asked, taking his friends hand.

Lelouch nodded as he pulled his friend to his feet. Suzaku brushed his white and gold armour down before cricking his neck. "I'm surprised." Suzaku pointed out. "You haven't asked me to forgive you."

"I've apologised enough." Lelouch replied. "But I forgive you regardless of what you do."

Suzaku's shoulders shook.

Lelouch glanced at him warily.

Suzaku laughed.

His laughter tore through the silence like a bomb in a desert.

It was a powerful laugh at the absurdity of the universe.

It was a laugh Lelouch hadn't heard in far too long.

"Unbelievable!" Suzaku shouted once he began to calm down. "You've slaughtered millions, lied, cheated, ruined lives, made people your puppets, and yet you STILL hold the moral high ground!"

He slapped Lelouch across the back and led him down the stairs. "Come on." He sighed happily. "Let's save Euphie and Nunnally."

* * *

#000  
Suzaku  
Fighting/Dragon  
The Judgement Pokémon

* * *

Death smiled.

He always smiled. Skulls can't do other emotions.

But this time, he felt like smiling.

Soon, the world would turn again.

Soon, the sand in the hourglasses would fall.

Soon, lives would end.

And he would be there for them.

That's what he was there for.

There was a knock at the door. "I'll just be leaving sir." Suzaku announced, poking his head through the door.

**What Is Mercy?**

"To be unfair and forgive those who don't deserve a second chance." Suzaku answered.

**What Purpose Does Death Have When There's Nothing Left?**

"To care." Suzaku replied. "And to provide mercy when there's no justice."

**Why Did You Muck Out The Stables?**

"Because mucking out the world is a job for a shovel, not a scythe." Lelouch answered, pushing the door open. "Because horrible jobs need doing, but they need to be done by the right people."

**That Is Incorrect.**

Lelouch's eyes widened as Suzaku smiled. "Because Shit Happens." The brown-haired boy said. "Deal With It."

Death nodded with a macabre grin.

**For The Sake Of Prisoners And The Flight Of Birds. **He said as the two boys left. **Lord, What Can The Harvest Hope For, If Not For The Care Of The Reaper Man?**

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

I loved that book. I must've cried about five times while writing this chapter.

And you weren't expecting it to be like this, were you? Well, that's how it is. Some people need to get thoroughly mind-raped. Some people need to pick up a shovel and dig.

Death's Prayer was taken from Terry Pratchett's Reaper Man. It's one of my favourite books, but get either the Hardback or the American Paperback. Formatting was screwed up in the European paperback.

The old man is Death's butler. I think his name's Albert, but that's not really important.

Next chapter: C.C.!


	45. CATCH 21

Well, I'm glad everyone enjoyed Suzaku's stay with Death.

And now for something completely different.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_Without death, all we have are random events._

_An accumulation of memories._

_You cannot call that a life._

_False tears only hurt others, but false smiles can only hurt yourself._

_Lelouch, do you know why snow is white?_

_It's because it's forgotten what colour it once was._

_You should stay away from those you do not wish to lose._

_Because it feels so good to be with them._

_Then they change._

_You grow apart._

_And it hurts._

_It hurts so much._

_Happy memories are so much sweeter than the pain of separation._

_And I'm always being left behind._

_They always move on, leaving me behind._

_I never leave them behind._

_I don't get the choice._

_And it hurts._

_I don't want to hurt anymore._

* * *

_The nameless witch sat in the jail cell._

_They'd burn her in the morning._

_This would be the seventh time she'd be burnt like this._

_But it was getting easier._

_The past few times, it was like it wasn't even happening to her, and she was just another onlooker, watching as the poor woman screamed._

_But it wouldn't hurt her._

_It would hurt the poor girl's body getting burnt._

_But her mind would be elsewhere._

_It was easy to distance herself from the pain._

_The problem is afterwards._

_She'd be clumsy for a while, like she'd lost touch with her body._

_She couldn't keep going like this._

_The gate opened._

_A dirty young man with scruffy blonde hair was standing at the door, his knuckles covered in blood. _

"_Angegangen." He said, reaching out for her hand. "Ich bin hier, Sie zu speichern."_

_The green haired woman dimly grasped the man's hand and left with him._

* * *

"Johan is a nice name, isn't it?"

C.C. looked up from where she was sitting in the marble floor.

A man stood there with a pleasant smile.

He was slightly shorter than average, with black hair and glasses that framed his wide face.

He was dressed in a black jumper and some brown trousers.

Honestly?

He looked completely ordinary.

"I don't think we know each other?" C.C. asked.

The man tilted his head. "Why do you refer to yourself like that?" he asked her.

C.C.'s brow twisted in confusion.

"There, you just did it again." The man pointed out. "C2, you sound like a car or a computer program."

The witch glared. "Who are you?" she asked.

The man squatted down to face her. "Why is snow white?" he asked her.

C.C. stood to her feet. "Because it's forgotten what colour it once was." She replied.

"I think green suits you." The man told her, rising to her level. "It's a nice colour."

"You're avoiding my question."

The man smiled at the witch. "You've been avoiding mine." He told her. "Why do you call yourself C.C.?"

"Tell me your name and I shall tell you mine." The witch replied.

"Alright then." The man said. "My name is Mew."

C.C. blinked.

"Your turn." The man said with a smile, swinging on the balls of his feet. "Tell me your _real_ name this time."

The witch's neck froze as she comprehended just who she was with.

She answered the question.

"Sierra." She replied. "My name is Sierra."

* * *

_Look not into Uxie's eyes.  
In but an instant, you'll have no recollection of who you are.  
Return home, but how? When there is nothing to remember?_

_Dare not touch Mesprit's body.  
In but three short days, all emotions will drain away._

_Above all, above all, harm not Azelf.  
In a scant five days, the offender will become as a dead man._

* * *

Sierra held her head as she contemplated the identity of her companion.

"Mew." She said. "_The_ Mew."

The man laughed. "I know, most people prefer the glowy pink furball, but this is my true form." He said.

"So, is Mew a title, or your name?" Sierra asked. "Is Mew your C.C.?"

The man's smile changed from pleasant to mischievous. "Well, my parents thought Arthur was a nice name, but what can I say?" he asked, shrugging. "Mew is what I am, and they never really got chance to name me otherwise."

"Unbelievable." Sierra sighed. "I was expecting someone taller for your human face."

"Nah, you just hang around with some pretty boys." Mew replied. "This is what the standard human looks like."

Sierra smirked at the joke, but then turned serious. "You can make me mortal again, can't you?" she asked.

Mew sucked in breath as he slowly winced. "Yes and no." he replied. "I'm the penultimate judge of your Geass."

Sierra glared. "Explain."

Mew sighed, rubbing his head. "It's strange, isn't it?" he asked. "I mean, now that the roles have reversed." Sierra tilted her head. "I mean, you've been the one with the knowledge and experience for the past five or six centuries." Mew explained. "And suddenly, this kid Lelouch knows more than you do, and then there's me."

C.C. didn't say anything.

She just glared at the god shaped like a man.

Mew groaned, but submitted. "Uxie, Mespirit and Azelf." He said. "Mind, Heart and Soul, Wisdom, Love and Will. One of them gives you an OK, you get your first Geass Runaway. If two like you, you get a second Geass. If all three like you, then you've got a Double Runaway."

"Then, when I see fit, you enter my game." Mew explained. "You regain control of your Geass, both of them. Then, next time you die, you become a Code. After that, it's a game of hide-and-seek."

"Hide-and-seek?" Sierra asked him.

"Yeah, I hide, you seek." Mew explained. "Of course, it wouldn't be fair to expect you to do it in a mortal's life-time, so you get immortality to go with it to keep you going. Throw in the power to manually use other Geass powers, and you'll be fine."

Sierra nodded. She'd already reached that conclusion concerning her abilities when using travelling in another's mind a long time ago. In theory, she could simulate the effect of every single Geass in the world with a single touch and enough time to do it. It was all in the re-wiring of the brain, after all.

"Spot on." Mew noted. "So, there's me, the wise and infinite me, and I hide from you until you're ready."

"Seven centuries and I still wasn't worthy?" C.C. snarled. "Yet Red was a Code for barely a week before you gave him a pass."

"That's just how it is." Mew shrugged. "He was ready, you'd been hurt so much that you forgot what the Lake Guardians taught you."

Sierra laughed bitterly. "So, I forgot to love until Lelouch came along?" she asked. "Is that it?"

"Well, yeah." Mew told her. "That's it."

"That's it?" Sierra asked. "That's _it?_"

Mew rubbed his temples wearily. "Well, if you want, we can go through seven hundred years of trauma and we can pick apart just _why_ and _how_ you're screwed up in the head, but I thought it'd be easier for both of us if I just gave you pokémon powers and we went and found the guy that can fix this."

Sierra slumped against a marble pillar, sliding to the ground. "Of course that's my problem." She said, ignoring what Mew just said. "My Geass is 'to be loved'. My entire psyche is based around a crushing need for affection."

Mew sighed.

Azelf's presence just left her.

He can't give her the strength he needs unless all the guardians allow it.

This was why he didn't want to break down her walls.

* * *

_Bleeding feels even better when it's cold. It feels warm on your outside. It stings a bit, but only on the outside, and that's always better than hurt on your inside. It's just, any kind of warmth helps make you try to keep going._

* * *

"You hate yourself." Mew said. "You hate yourself for what you do to people. Even when you sealed off your Geass, they become entranced by your glamour and their sole purpose of life becomes you. And it hurts." He said. "You're always the one crying at their funerals. You're always the one getting left behind as time marches on."

C.C. stopped.

"You know what's dangerous about you, Sierra?" Mew asked. "It's not that you make people take risks, it's that you make them want to impress you."

"Shut up."

"You make it so they don't want to let you down." Mew continued, regardless. "You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around. Just look at Lelouch." He added, twisting the knife and pouring salt on the wound. "He abandoned his sister and tore the world apart just to impress you."

"I told you to shut up."

"Ooh, anger, nice." Mew smiled. "It felt good to bring that Mars bitch down, didn't it?" she asked. "You'd held that mask together for so long, pretending to have it all together, and didn't it feel _good_ to let it all go and become a beast for once in a hundred years."

"I don't have to hear this."

"I know why you always dance at weddings."

C.C. froze.

* * *

_There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. _

_An Immortal Code may be crazy and want to leave the game. All he has to do is ask; and as soon as he does, he would no longer be crazy and would be fit to play the game again. _

_The Code would be crazy to play the game and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to play. If he played then he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to._

_Missingno. was deeply impressed by this logic._

"_That's some catch, Mew." He said._

"_It's the best there is." Mew replied. "It catches them all."  
_

* * *

"You are sick." C.C. glared at Mew. "You're even with Missingno.."

"We're both ambassadors on either side of the Cosmic Horror Story." Mew explained. "I represent that which is, he represents that which is not."

C.C. glared, but decided to drop it. "So, why's this game so important to you that you needed to develop a catch to keep us playing?"

Mew smiled sadly. "Because it needs to be played." He said. "And there must be two winners."

C.C. raised her head at this. "Why is the Geass passed from one gender to the other?"

"Because there must be _two_ winners." Mew said. "And it's not enough to have two Code's evolve into Masters." He added.

"So, two Masters need to start a new race of human-pokémon hybrids?" C.C. asked.

Mew burst up laughing.

"No such thing!" he shouted eventually. "After all, pokémon are humans too."

C.C. froze as a sinister grin crept up Mew's face. "You're old Sierra." He said. "But you aren't that old."

"Who are you?" She glared. "Talk."

Mew smiled.

"I am the last of my kind." He said.

"I have told you my true name Mew." Sierra snarled. "Tell me yours."

Mew frowned.

"Adam." He said.

* * *

_A young man, callow and foolish in innocence, came to own a sword._

_With it, he smote pokémon, which gave sustenance, with carefree abandon._

_Those not taken as food, he discarded, with no afterthought._

_The following year, no pokémon appeared. Larders grew bare._

_The young man, seeking the missing pokémon, journeyed afar._

_Long did he search. And far and wide, too, until one he did find._

_Asked he, "Why do you hide?" To which the pokémon replied..._

_**If you bear your sword to bring harm upon us, with claws and fangs, we will exact a toll.**_

_**From your kind we will take our toll, for it must be done.**_

_**Done it must be to guard ourselves and for it, I apologize.**_

_To the skies, the young man shouted his dismay._

_"In having found the sword, I have lost so much._

_"Gorged with power, I grew blind to pokémon being alive._

_"I will never fall savage again. This sword I denounce and forsake._

_"I plead for forgiveness, for I was but a fool."_

_So saying, the young man hurled the sword to the ground, snapping it._

_Seeing this, the pokémon disappeared to a place beyond seeing..._

* * *

"_The_ Adam?" C.C. asked.

"To call me the first human would be a misnomer." Mew sighed. "That would be Eve."

"But you're a pokémon." C.C. told him.

"No." Mew replied. "That would be Lilith."

* * *

_There once were pokémon that became very close to humans. _

_There once were humans and pokémon that ate together at the same table. _

_It was a time when there existed no differences to distinguish the two._

* * *

"One race." Sierra said. "That divided into two."

"The Fruit of Life and the Fruit of Knowledge." Mew sighed. "One grew powerful in body, but their mind waned, and they became submissive. The other grew mighty in intellect, but their bodies weakened, for they no longer needed that power. They could harness the strength of the monsters that knelt to their wisdom."

"So, humans and pokémon descended from the same gene pool." Sierra sighed, rubbing her head. "And the Geass is an experiment to reunite them?"

"It has only been completed three times to date." Mew said with a serene sigh. "Each time human and pokémon reunite, the resulting people never had the drive to take the world that is rightfully theirs."

"Why are you telling me this?" C.C. asked. "Because you never told anyone this before."

"I have hopes that you two won't shun your calling." Mew said. "But the other Master has been taken by the Generation that never was."

C.C. sighed. "So, the new race-"

"Mew." Mew said. "There is a reason that we are called the New Species pokémon, despite being the first."

C.C. smirked. "So, your plan that Lelouch and I become Mew and conquer the world?"

"It really won't be like that." Mew told her. "Call it Eschaton- the dawn of a new world."

C.C. didn't smile. "There are two other Masters already." She said. "Suzaku and Ashford."

"Mew is a dual organism." Mew corrected. "And no, there isn't any merging of bodies or whatever. I was the first Mew, I don't count."

"And I owe you this… why?" she asked him.

Mew tilted his head. "We had a contract, did we not?" he asked. "You wished for love, so I led you to the one who could best do that." He smiled. "A seven century age gap between two lovers is rather cruel, is it not?"

* * *

_Our words shall remain here for the ages_

_Thus we shall erect a pokémon statue outside_

_They possess great insight and refuse the outside world_

_We humans must learn to walk in harmony with them_

_We depart for their sakes_

* * *

"Bear with me. Seven centuries of a theories is a lot to shake off for the truth." C.C. said deadpan tone. "So, how do I know you're real, and not some illusion created by Missingno.?"

"You don't." Mew admitted. "But I reckon that you can throw Shadow Balls now."

C.C. looked at her hand.

Dark flames gathered between her fingers.

"And now you become a Master." Mew said, standing upright. "Of course, this renders you once more as mortal. Try not to get yourself killed as usual."

C.C. smiled, standing upright.

* * *

#000  
Sierra  
Normal/Ghost  
The Clement Pokémon

* * *

"You've waited for too long." Mew told her, helping her to her feet.

"Why twenty-two?" Sierra asked him, looking down at the black dress she was wearing.

"Because **I** am Catch-21." Mew replied. "Alright, let's get Lelouch and bring him in."

The witch nodded as a black portal opened and a foul burning smell drifted into the air.

A figure burst from the portal, running for his life and flailing his arms around him to ward off some unseen assailant.

C.C. caught him and held him still. "Lelouch!" she shouted, struggling to keep him in her grip. "Lelouch, calm down."

The black prince twisted up and looked at her, blind, confused terror in his eyes. "Is that…"

She stroked his head, hiding her shock and fear behind a comforting smile. "It's alright." She said as she slowly knelt to the ground, holding him. "It's me. I'm here."

Lelouch pulled his face into her chest, sobbing uncontrollably.

C.C. pulled him into her embrace.

What could have done this to him..?

Not Lelouch, Lelouch would never be broken this badly so easily.

She placed a palm on his back

She used Dream Eater.

* * *

_**I watch you. I see the hatred in your eyes, well-hidden behind courtly graces.**_

_**I listen. I know the terrible darkness that hides behind your well-rehearsed lies.**_

_**I wait for you at the edge of sanity. I taste the pain in your mind, the yearning to end this charade.**_

_**I make my home in the darkest pits of your soul. In the shadows I bide my time.**_

_**I patiently wait for you to open your eyes and realize that it is by my will alone that you draw breath.**_

_**For I am Missingno. and you are my puppet who dances to my tune.**_

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Next chapter probably won't be that interesting, just Lelouch getting thoroughly raped up the cerebellum by a being that will make Tzeentch look like Gendo Ikari.

Now would be a good place to stop if you like your dreams without nightmares.

And whatever you do… don't.


	46. LIAR

_**Warning**_

This will be messed. You saw how bad Lelouch was last chapter. On a scale of one to ten, one being an apple and ten being absolute nightmare fuel, this chapter should rank at around… 40k.

This is your fault you know. You gave me 200 reviews, and I submitted 1,000,000 words in total between all my stories. I need to do something to celebrate. There is nothing gratuitous in this chapter.

This is hell, as imagined by life in the forty-thousandth century where there is only war.

Suffer not the abomination to live. Hate his foul existence. He has but one fate: Annihilation.

Now for the Holy Diver.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_In the beginning, man was made to live._

_But soon, they hated._

_Greed and selfishness prospered, and man could not._

_Making enemies of gods, man sought to harness the engine of its destruction._

_Such hubris._

_Only man could be so arrogant._

_Only man could actually succeed._

* * *

_Charles Zi Britannia stood upon the Giants Causeway, his Geass blazing as he strode into the water._

**Why do you return?**

_Charles faced the ripple in reality._

**Your servants stand to face your son in battle. Join them.**

"_**I have no desire to meet that child in battle.**__" The Emperor said. "__**I seek to destroy him.**__"_

**You believe I will serve your bidding.**

"_**I want to offer you an exchange.**__" Charles said. "__**Take him and drag him through more than hell itself.**__** Make him beg for his life to end so his soul can rest in the comparative bliss of hell's torments. Break him. Let your outer gods make him their plaything. No rest, I want worse done to him than I can ever inflict.**__"_

**What could you ever offer that would make that exchange worth anyone's time?**

"_**The world.**__" The Emperor declared. "__**For the eternal pain of one soul, I will make this world yours.**__"_

**How?**

_Charles produced the GS ball and held it above his head._

_Missingno. laughed._

_The world was taken within the minute._

* * *

_Death stands above me, whispering low_

_I know not what in my ear_

_Of his strange language all I know_

_There is only pain and fear._

* * *

_Lelouch laughed bitterly as he turned around in the whiteness. "This is the power of the very first pokémon!" he shouted. "The pokémon that RULES the universe! Our world DANCES to its CODE!"_

_He continued to laugh as the black mist of He Who Is Not rose behind him._

_"This is what the Emperor wanted." Lelouch told the other Geass users around him. "THIS!" he shouted, spreading his arms around in despair as he laughed with bitter tears flowing from his Geass. "__**IS MISSINGNO.!**__"_

* * *

_There is a terrible darkness descending upon the galaxy, and we shall not see it ended in our lifetimes._

_The stars themselves once lived and died at their command, yet we still dare to oppose their will._

_We are less than cattle to these beings, chattel to be cast aside, consumed or made sport with for their pleasure. _

_There is not one amongst them that would pay heed to a world of Man as I would to an ant on my boot._

_They have only one purpose and there is nothing they will not do to accomplish this, no matter how vile or loathsome it might be. _

_These abominations mean to destroy everything proud and noble, everything we hold dear and have fought so long to achieve._

_The day will not save us._

_And they own the night._

_Long shall be our suffering._

_Joyous be our pain._

_Let the galaxy burn._

_Let the heavens bleed._

_This is their galaxy. _

_Theirs to corrupt. _

_Theirs to enslave. _

_The gods will not be denied their prize._

_They await the day when they shall take what is theirs._

_And we shall scream._

_For there shall be no deliverance._

* * *

Lelouch stood in a room akin to a tailor shop. "What is this place?" he asked.

"A tailors." The man behind him replied. "We can't have you looking like that."

Lelouch looked down his body to see that he was still naked. "I believe your neck size is about… fourteen inches?" the man asked, examining the boy from top to bottom with his eyes. "Yes… you have long arms compared to the rest of you, and your shoulders aren't as broad as they should be, but I'm sure that we'll have something that'll fit."

Lelouch blinked as the man picked up two shirts from a rack, one red and one purple, then began holding each one to Lelouch's chest. "Yes… Purple suits you better." He said, replacing the shirts onto the rack. "It brings out your eyes. You really do have your mother's eyes you know."

"What..?" Lelouch snarled.

"Now now, she DID provide half of your genetic material after all." The tailor said. "Now, boxers or briefs?"

"What do you want with me?" Lelouch demanded.

"Boxers then." The man snickered, tossing him a pair of garments and leading the boy over towards the changing room. "Well, we need you to look your best my boy."

"What for." Lelouch demanded, looking at the black business suit that was on a hanger next to the mirror. The dress shirt was a deep purple, with a simple black neck tie in the suit's front pocket. A pair of shiny black shoes lay on the floor, next to a pair of balled up black socks.

The man sneered, leaving Lelouch with his clothes as he pulled the curtain shut between the two of them.

"_**For a trip to the edge of madness, of course.**_"

* * *

"Just so you know, Madness is the emergency exit." The guide told Lelouch as he lead him through the dark tunnels. "You can just step outside, and close the door on all those dreadful things that happened. You can lock them away forever."

Lelouch nodded, still buttoning the cuffs of his sleeves when he heard his father's screams.

They weren't screams of fear.

That was agony.

That was the scream of someone being violently disembowelled by the blade of a moving kabutops skeleton.

Lelouch's identification of the scream was quite accurate.

"I'm surprised father." Lelouch told him. "Rather than play me you chose to throw the board into the air and decree that everyone loses." He sneered at the man as he tried to gather his intestines back into the cavity that was his chest. "Even the monsters despise you."

He heard his father laugh behind him.

Lelouch turned around to see the bloody Emperor sneering at the boy. "LELOUCH." He boomed. "I Have Prepared Hell Itself For You."

Lelouch sighed. "Really father?" he asked. "Sending a demon to hell? Do you really think that will break me?"

"You Will In Time Boy." Charles sneered.

"Father, I have _always_ been prepared to drag you into hell with me." Lelouch replied. "These monsters aren't going to let you enjoy your eternity. We will both be walking down hell together."

**Not So**

Lelouch turned around to see a figure in a white mask standing beyond the pool of blood.

**You Will Be Given Special Treatment Lelouch**

"Of course I will." Lelouch said. "After all, it's hard to give someone an acid enema while they're dressed this nicely."

**Ooh, We hadn't thought of that one yet.**

Lelouch looked behind him to see a female figure that was bald, eyeless and naked. Her skin was jet black, with crimson tribal markings running down the centre of her face, down her chin, through her chest and ending at her navel.

**I Have Business To Attend To O+**

'M said, naming the female figure behind Lelouch as he gestured to Charles Zi Britannia.

**Perhaps You Could Show Our Guest The Pleasure Dome Where His Friends Are Currently Staying?**

O+ opened her lips into a grin. Her teeth were in a perfectly tessellating zigzag.

She took Lelouch by the wrist and led him into a portal that should not be as the emperor laughed.

**I think Lulu would like that very much.**

* * *

**There's nothing quite like the sound of countless souls screaming in unison, don't you agree?**

Lelouch glared at the torture around him, only because there was nowhere for him to avert his eyes.

**See, we've only just started to have physical form, and since we took your world, we've just been taking in more and more of your knowledge, and it's amazing what you humans do to each other. Did you ever see 'Two girls One pokéball'?**

Lelouch's eye caught a man who was vomiting faecal matter as a misshapen beast rammed his face into the floor, demanding that he lick it up. Lelouch's mouth twisted in an involuntary grimace and brought his attention back to O+.

**We haven't even started being creative yet, this is just us trying out what you humans have come up with for **_**pleasure**_**. I shudder to hear the screams when we try out what you came up with to hurt one another!**

"LELOUCH!"

His neck span around and he saw Euphie, naked, hung by meat hooks in her shoulders as one abomination with crustacean skin violated her with a serpentine tongue.

She screamed, limbs contorting as she cringed at the humiliation.

Lelouch didn't think.

He charged.

He slammed the creature to the ground, then held Euphie by the waist. "Hold on." He told her, lifting her off the hooks as gently as he could.

She still gasped in pain as he did so, but quietened down as Lelouch slung her over his shoulder and ran through the screams.

**BLAM**

Lelouch felt blood splatter across his back and his cheek.

And the weight he was carrying was much lighter.

He dared himself to turn around.

Everything above Euphie's ribcage was gone.

**BLAM**

Lelouch fell to the ground, his left knee having been obliterated, but he was too far in shock to scream.

**BLAM**

He fell flat on his face, his other leg gone.

He fell flat on his face, his other leg gone. He pushed himself up and froze, coming face to face with Euphie's disembodied head.

She stared at him with watering eyes, tears mixing with blood running down her face. Gasping for air, she mouthed a voiceless plea to her brother as the last of her life sparked across her brain.

Lelouch shakily reached out to her to cradle his sister's weeping head.

**BLAM**

His arm exploded into blood and bone shard and he collapsed back into the polluted ground.

**Naughty naughty Lulu. It's not exactly torture if we let you be a hero.**

* * *

Lelouch woke up in a chair.

**I understand you play?**

Lelouch sat bolt upright and was offered a chess set by a man in a gray trainer's jacket with stonewashed jeans. His face was rather broad, a pleasant smile visible under the shade of his low cap.

**My name is Rainer. I apologise for how my allies have been treating you. Would you like a game of chess?**

Lelouch stood to his feet.

He wasn't buying these apologies for a second.

He knew that this Rainer wanted to torture him just as much as O+ did.

But he was healed, and he was good at chess, so he took the board and followed his opponent through the door.

* * *

Lelouch's eyes widened in shock.

He was standing on the Black King's square of a human chessboard.

Every single one of the chess pieces had someone he knew chained to it.

To his right, the Black Queen, was Kallen, and to his left, C.C. served as the Black Bishop.

"You sick bastard." Lelouch growled.

Rainer laughed.

It was a haunting, impossible laugh.

**Relax, if they die, we can bring them back.**

Then Lelouch realised.

The woman next to him wasn't C.C..

He couldn't feel her presence in this woman.

That was just some look-alike that had been surgically altered to look like her.

Lelouch glanced at Kallen.

_That's her._

_No doubt about it._

So, they've gathered who they could, but not everyone.

So C.C. was safe.

For now at any rate.

He looked down in front of him to see an obsidian podium the size of a chessboard. He dropped the board on top of it, and it sank into the black glass as if it were water, locking into it tightly. The pieces clattered to the board, jumping into their places.

**Shall we begin? Knight to F3**

White's kingside knight rose into the air and moved beyond the pawn line.

_His move._

"Knight to C6," Lelouch replied, moving his queenside knight forward.

As it rose, he saw Suzaku chained to the horses back.

No, not Suzaku, Lelouch could tell. Another double.

**Knight to C3**

White brought his other knight forward.

Lelouch replied with the same, sending his other knight forward to square F6.

Silver was chained to that one.

Possibly a double, but Lelouch couldn't tell.

White moved the kings pawn forward one square.

Lelouch moved his queen pawn the same amount.

Milly.

The real one.

A cold sweat ran down Lelouch's spine as white moved their kings bishop forward.

He'd been playing with people's lives for years, but this was the first time that it was so parodied.

Who is his other bishop?

Lelouch moved the queenside bishop to challenge the white bishop.

_Shirley._

The white bishop took the bait.

"NO!" Lelouch shouted as Shirley screamed as a thousand bleached claws snapped forward and sunk into her flesh.

He did his best to hold his ground and not fall to his knees as Rainer laughed again. If they had been playing on a normal chessboard, his outburst would have scattered the pieces across the board. As it stood, there was nothing he could do, trapped in his own square and staring as Shirley was ripped from the bishop piece and dragged screaming into the mass of thorny white claws.

**Your move Lelouch.**

Lelouch snarled, getting his head back into gear. "Pawn captures on E6!" he shouted, moving the piece on his board and capturing the bishop with his pawn- with Ohgi. The pawn charged forward and shattered the white, bloodstained bishop before it could finish devouring Shirley, the force of the collision knocking her free.

Lelouch stared in horror as what remained of Shirley's body, just a head and a torso, shuddered on the marble ground, before she finally went still, her eyes glazing over. His gaze was only broken as Rainer made his next move, and White castled.

Lelouch took a breath to steel himself and brought his queenside rook closer.

Rivalz.

White moved a pawn forward one square.

If the king doesn't lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?

Lelouch tapped his obsidian podium and it soared beside him as he took a step diagonally forward and looked at the pawns on either side of him.

Nunnally and Misty, lashed to the pawn pieces with black chains and razor wire.

White moved a knight forward, closer to Lelouch, and he forced himself to drown out the quiet moans of "Brother…" as he controlled his rage.

_They hurt Nunnally._

Lelouch ignored the knight and moved the rook's pawn on the opposite side of the board.

White moved a bishop one square.

_He's taunting me._

Lelouch moved the Suzaku duplicate so he was in front of Lelouch and Milly. White moved their other knight, opening a gap for their queen to attack the pawn, even though the rook would take the queen.

The other rook was most likely Toudou, and it was unlikely that Rainer would sacrifice a queen just for that.

Just to be sure, he moved Toudou's rook into play.

White moved the queen, bringing her into play, covering both the pawn, the Suzaku duplicate and the C.C. double.

He moved Silver to attack her.

The queen moved closer to the two knights that stood side-by-side.

Lelouch moved Toudou sidewise two squares.

He was getting into it now.

The other white bishop swept from its position to threaten Misty.

Lelouch hated bishops. They were always where you didn't want them to be, and you never noticed.

Lelouch especially hated these bishops.

He took a step back.

The knight moved to attack and Kallen gasped in horror.

Lelouch froze.

_He was in a fork._

Next move, that Knight would kill either C.C. or Kallen, and he couldn't do anything about it other than consciously save one of them. He glared at the bloodstained white Knight and cursed himself for falling into the trap.

Then he saw a shredded arm at the base of the Knight and realised that he completely missed the fact that Ohgi was just taken.

He must have held his tongue so he didn't scream.

That was why Kallen had screamed. Because he had let one of her oldest friends die... Lelouch realised what an idiot he was and moved Toudou across to avenge Oghi and kill the Knight.

And the queen rushed down and killed Suzaku, ripping him from the razor wire and twisting him, peeling his flesh from his bone.

Lelouch snarled. How was he supposed to keep up with this when human lives were at stake?

He never had a problem with it before now.

The only difference was that now there were names to faces.

One million is just a statistic after all.

Lelouch stood up straight and moved Toudou out of the queen's reach.

If they want a heartless tactician, then so be it.

Blue screamed as the queen took her pawn, riddling her with bloodstained white thorns.

Rivalz is in danger.

Screw it. He couldn't save them or himself playing like this.

Lelouch stepped away into a safer place, his podium following.

"LELOUCH?" Kallen screamed for the first time in the game.

He didn't turn his back.

She was just another piece to him now.

Nina screamed as the queen took her.

Rivalz was safe for now.

Lelouch moved Silver to attack the white queen and bishop. The white queen sensibly backed off, keeping the bishop safe from attack.

Lelouch withdrew Silver.

White advanced a pawn two squares to attack him.

Lelouch moved Silver forward and to the side to dodge it.

White moved another pawn.

Silver shattered it and took its place, threatening the rook.

The white bishop withdrew to threaten Toudou.

Lelouch moved him to safety, but it cost him his chance to take the white rook with Silver's knight.

He moved Nunnally's pawn forwards, ignoring her pleas for help.

There was no help he could give her right now.

White moved the pawn in front of its king forward one square, so Lelouch moved C.C.'s bishop forward.

This woman had no idea who he was.

No, she probably did after the execution, but regardless.

White queen moved to the side, closer to Lelouch's pawns- Misty and Milly.

Lelouch retreated to behind a pawn- Kaguya.

The other king moved into a corner, and Lelouch nudged the C.C. double forward to challenge the white bishop.

It sickened Lelouch just how much he was cowering.

White pawn moved.

Lelouch moved Toudou forward, past the last unidentified pawn.

It was Chiba.

White pawn advanced.

Is Rainer going for a second queen?

Lelouch moved Kallen.

Pawn again.

Definitely going for a second queen.

Lelouch snarled.

If it did, and Lelouch took it with Rivalz, then the queen would kill him and put Lelouch in check.

Lelouch moved Chiba forward into the firing range of another white pawn.

The ambitious pawn moved again.

Lelouch swept his last bishop across the board and took the white bishop mercilessly.

A knight took the woman, descending on her as the piece opened up to reveal a maw of stark bleached teeth. She screamed as she died.

Definitely not C.C..

Lelouch stepped around Kaguya and moved forward.

Even though he knew he was just getting out of the way for when the white queen took Rivalz.

The pawn stepped forward and contorted as it changed shape.

Lelouch didn't let it finish its transformation, killing it with Rivalz without hesitation.

Rivalz didn't cry out as the white rook smashed him into the stone, his head hitting the massive board and spraying blood across it.

Lelouch moved Chiba to take a white pawn.

She didn't scream as she died either, but Toudou roared in fury.

Lelouch glared at Rainer, the path between them now open.

Rainer smirked.

Lelouch moved Toudou forward to avenge Chiba, and the white rook moved sideways to put Lelouch into check.

Lelouch sidestepped forward into safety.

He couldn't lose yet.

The other white rook moved backwards to block Lelouch's advance.

So he retreated.

The white rook returned to its previous position, preventing his further retreat.

Lelouch could try for a 3-move repeat stalemate…

That would end the game here and now without a winner of loser, or more lives being lost.

Lelouch stepped directly forward, ready to test this ploy.

The rook returned again to block his advance.

How childish.

Lelouch can play this game.

He stepped back into position.

The rook returned a second time into the corner.

Lelouch stepped forward a second time.

The rook moved forward to block his advance a third time.

Lelouch stepped backwards.

The rook returned.

Lelouch frowned, stepping forward again.

The rook moved forward again.

Lelouch stepped backwards.

**Were you trying for a stalemate?**

Lelouch snarled as the white rook returned to its corner.

So, the three-repeat rule wasn't in effect.

He was just in an infinite loop.

Screw this.

Lelouch moved Silver forward to attack the white rook.

The white rook moved forward, with only Kaguya between it and Lelouch.

**Game on.**

Lelouch stepped forward, but sidestepped to attack the white rook while defending Kaguya.

The second white rook swept across the board to defend its brother.

At this rate, Kaguya was gone.

Lelouch's eyes met hers inadvertently.

She was terrified.

She was pleading for help.

She was pleading for mercy.

She found none in his eyes.

Instead, he moved Toudou behind enemy lines.

A white pawn moved forward.

Lelouch advanced the rook, so only Silver was preventing Toudou from putting Rainer in check.

Another white pawn moved.

Lelouch brought Silver back, putting Rainer in check.

Rainer moved forward, rendering the attack useless, as Lelouch expected.

He moved Silver, putting Rainer in check once more.

The king moved sideways.

Lelouch returned Silver to put Rainer in check, and Rainer returned to his previous position.

Lelouch looked past Milly and at Nunnally.

He was going to have to sacrifice one of them.

He played the next few moves in his head.

It was going to have to be Nunnally.

Lelouch looked away as he moved his sister into the firing line.

Miraculously, she wasn't killed. Instead, a white pawn moved forward to attack Lelouch.

He couldn't kill it, there was a pawn defending it, and if he moved Milly to kill it, then Lelouch would be in check, so either option was illegal.

Lelouch stepped backwards and let the pawn kill Milly.

She screamed, and Lelouch was in check once more.

Kallen froze when she realised what Lelouch's next move was.

He did it anyway.

He moved Kallen forward and killed the pawn that had Lelouch in check.

The white rook swept behind Lelouch, putting him in check.

Bastard…

Lelouch moved to the side, staying next to Kallen.

And the white queen swept down to put him in check.

Lelouch moved again, remaining by Kallen's side.

The white knight put Lelouch in check.

Rainer was determined to separate Lelouch from Kallen.

He was afraid.

Afraid of Lelouch taking his pieces.

Of Lelouch winning.

**Checkmate.**

Lelouch froze.

He looked down at the board on his wrist.

He couldn't move.

There was nowhere to move.

He'd been so obsessed with staying with Kallen that he'd lost the battle.

He'd let his emotions control him.

Even though he'd resigned to let Kallen die, his affection for her was his downfall.

"Bastard…" Lelouch snarled. "BASTARD!"

He gripped the queen piece on his wrist and slammed it across the board, and Kallen struck the enemy queen, shattering it into a thousand chunks of marble.

n.

**But you've lost.**

Lelouch dodged the knight as he moved Kallen across his board to take the enemy rook, then moved Misty's pawn to kill the knight.

"That's what we humans do." Lelouch explained, panting for breath. "We never submit, we never surrender, and when all is lost, _we cheat_."

Rainer laughed.

**So do we.**

Spikes burst from every black piece, shredding the bodies of every piece.

Lelouch stood there as Kallen's blood drenched his face.

He looked down to see Nunnally's blood seep into his shoes.

He looked to his left to see Misty's head roll across the floor, bumping against his leg.

**Beaten in fifty-four moves Lelouch. If you just allowed that, then they wouldn't have had to die.**

"You said it yourself." Lelouch snarled. "You can bring them back."

**And we will. But they'll remember.**

Lelouch scowled at the abomination, hatred twisting in his gut. "What do you mean?"

**They'll remember how you sacrificed them as the pawns they were. They'll remember how coldly you sent them to their deaths. They'll remember how proud you were, thinking you could best the gods at the cost of their lives.**

**Even if you somehow fix everything and restore your world, they will remember.**

**What has been done cannot be undone.**

**There is no wonderful reset button.**

**Even if you can end our game, you have still lost.**

**Would you like to see what we're doing to your dear little sister right now?**

Lelouch snapped out of the stupor he was in and snarled. "_What._"

Rainer smirked, then looked at the sky.

**I think it's about to rain.**

Blood fell from the ceiling, carrying hacked off limbs and organs with it.

A head crunched on the floor by Lelouch's feet.

And another.

And a third head.

Lelouch knelt in the blood and his eyes widened in horror as he identified the face three times.

As three sets of his sister's eyes stared up at him, blank and filled with pain.

**You know what the best part of having dominion over life and death is?**

The black prince fell backwards, drenching his elbows and legs in the pool of blood as he backed away.

**We can kill her over and over again, and she still won't stop screaming for her big brother. It's hilarious, you wanna come see?**

Lelouch rolled over in the blood, holding himself up on his hands and knees.

His shoulder shook.

He giggled.

He threw his body back and laughed at the sky.

**Looks like someone found the emergency exit. This quickly too?**

"**Wrong.**"

Rainer froze as Lelouch rose to his feet. "**All this time, I've been holding myself back, toeing the line of the event horizon of morality; one wrong step and I'll fall into the pit, never to return.**"

Lelouch turned around and held his hand out at Rainer. "**Fuck morality.**" He said. "**If a man dedicates his life to good deeds and the welfare of others, he will die unthanked and unremembered. If he exercises his genius bringing misery and death to billions, his name will echo through the millennia for a hundred lifetimes. Infamy is always more preferable to ignominy.**"

A black spear burst from the wall behind Rainer, skewering him through the chest.

"**My name is Lelouch Vi Britannia, Zero, the prince who was abandoned by his empire.**" Lelouch growled, turning his hand to twist the spike into a violent screw."**I am the one who shall crush this world and create one anew. My name is the future of the human race and pokémon united. If anyone wishes to stop me, let them try. If there is anyone who can go beyond my despair, let them come.**"

**WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF DESPAIR**

Lelouch was forced face-first into the blood by an incomprehensible weight as a being of haze and ink and blood ground down on his soul.

**WHAT DO HUMANS KNOW OF OUR PAIN**

**WE HAVE SUNG THE SONGS OF LAMENT SINCE BEFORE YOUR ANCESTORS CRAWLED THROUGH THE MUD ON THEIR BELLIES AS THEY FIRST ROSE FROM THE SEA**

**WE ARE SUFFERING**

**UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS YOU WHO KNOWS NOTHING OF PAIN**

Lelouch spat blood out of his teeth as he grinned.

"**You understand nothing of humans.**" He said, not knowing who it was he faced. "**We pollute our own planet. We kill each other for dominance, for greed, for fun. We capture beasts with the power to destroy the planet and we make them kneel before us. We are the ultimate thieves. We steal victory from each other and commit atrocious crimes on a daily basis just to survive. You think that we fear you?**"

Lelouch pushed himself to his knees. "**Of course we fear you. That is what we do. But that will not stop us. We will rebel. We will fight. You may know pain, but you know nothing of fear.**"

Lelouch stood amongst the blood and turned to his enemy, glaring despite the weight of the air around him. "**We are humans, and we are fear incarnate.**" Lelouch told the beast. "**Whilst we draw breath, we stand. Whilst we stand, we fight. Whilst we fight, we prevail. Nothing shall stay our wrath.**"

**FALL**

Lelouch fell once more into the blood.

He spat the blood from his mouth as he rose once more.

He drew breath.

He stood.

"**YIELD!**" Lelouch commanded, shouting with all his might. "**KNEEL UNTO ME AND BECOME MY SLAVE!**"

**FALL**

Lelouch fell.

He cracked his nose on the stone below the blood.

He gripped something and pushed up.

It was a human arm.

He used it to support his weight as he stood, panting for breath.

He threw the arm at the beast around him.

It passed through its form harmlessly.

**FALL**

"No." Lelouch whispered, back bending under the pressure.

**FALL**

"No." Lelouch repeated assertively, forcing his back to straighten.

**YIELD**

"**No.**" Lelouch growled.

**SURRENDER**

"_**NO!**_" Lelouch roared.

**Don't bother h POKé. **A voice behind Lelouch said. **You can't intimidate him. Not this one.**

The Beast before Lelouch withered in fear when faced with the beast behind Lelouch.

It walked as a man with purple hair and black eyes, a more muscular version of Lelouch that stood with pride and curiosity. **You've even worked out how to change the world Lelouch.** This new beast said, touching the black drill that had pierced Rainer's chest. **Very impressive, for a human.** The beast continued as the drill crumbled into dust.

"And who would you be?" Lelouch asked, struggling to stay standing as Rainer fell to his knees amongst the blood, gasping for air.

The beast smiled.

**Everything that happens, happens for a reason, little one.** He said to Lelouch. **And that reason is me.**

He turned to Lelouch with widespread arms. **None are beyond my reach. None are above my wrath. All is dust.**

"Name." Lelouch snarled.

* * *

_**I watch you. I see the hatred in your eyes, well-hidden behind courtly graces.**_

_**I listen. I know the terrible darkness that hides behind your well-rehearsed lies.**_

_**I wait for you at the edge of sanity. I taste the pain in your mind, the yearning to end this charade.**_

_**I make my home in the darkest pits of your soul. In the shadows I bide my time.**_

_**I patiently wait for you to open your eyes and realize that it is by my will alone that you draw breath.**_

_**For I am Missingno. and you are my puppet who dances to my tune.**_

* * *

Lelouch glared at Missingno., aware of the two other creatures around him.

**You stand against me now.** Missingno. pointed out. **Where is that fear from when I took your world?**

"**I have come to dance the dance of death.**" Lelouch replied, reaching into the blood for a long tibia to use as a weapon. "**I'm too deep in hell for fear.**"

Missingno. smiled.

**Deep?**

Lelouch glanced at Rainer.

**This Is The Shallow Part. Can We Take Him Deep? That Is Our Job, Right?**

**Yes.** Missingno. decided. **I'll take him there myself. Bring .4,** he added. **He'll be perfect for what I have in mind.**

"**What do you want, Missingno.?**" Lelouch asked.

**Right now Lelouch?** The monster replied. **I want to see your insides. I want you to turn inside out.**

Lelouch barely had time to raise an eyebrow in confusion before the world turned to pain.

* * *

Lelouch screamed.

That's all he could comprehend for the rest of an eternity.

His own screams.

* * *

Lelouch awoke on the floor, standing upright.

His body had healed.

The trauma of what they put him through after they got bored of matching wits with him began to shake his mind.

Pain…

But it was gone.

It was over.

But…

Missingno. had told him something…

He'd given him an order just before everything turned black…

'_Run'_

Lelouch froze as he felt the presence behind him and rolled over as a massive axe smashed into the ground, sending flesh and blood everywhere.

The beast was nine feet, nine inches tall.

It wore massive armour that was caked in blood, with rotting flesh hanging of the many spikes that filled the parts of the armours surface that wasn't adorned in unholy symbols.

One hand alone could crush a man's ribcage.

Fire loosed from jets that hung from its shoulders.

But the worst part was its face.

It was that of a stantler.

Only the mouth had opened so wide that a grinning skull was leering through the gaping maw.

There was no eyes in the loose stantler flesh that served as this abomination's hood. Instead, to large, bleached, curved horns rose from the gaps in the pokémon's flesh and rose up, ending in two sharp points.

The bony jaw opened and roared with a tongue of flame as it took a step forward, its mighty foot crunching against the corpses under its feet.

This was a monster.

**Run Lelouch.** Missingno. chuckled in the distance. **You **_**really**_** don't want .4 to catch you.**

Lelouch didn't need telling twice.

He twisted on the ground, slipping on the blood and sweat of the dead under his feet as he ran across the discarded corpses as fast as he could.

.4 roared savagely as it charged after its prey.

* * *

_**BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD**_

_**SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE**_

_**SOULS FOR THE SOUL EATER**_

* * *

Lelouch span around a corner and bolted as .4 smashed the wall down, knocking the puny humans aside as it charged through humans and unbeings alike.

The stench of blood filled Lelouch's nostrils so much that he wanted to vomit.

The screams filled his ears so much that he could barely hear his own breathing.

"MAMA!"

That was one of the children from Zero City that always played around the corner from Zero's office…

A bag of flesh fell to the ground before Lelouch, and he leapt over it before he realised that it was Milly's skin.

He fumbled the fall, landing on the steel ground as he rolled through the pooling blood, and he vomited.

Tears splashed in the blood.

Lelouch heard the roar and rolled out the way.

His arm was crushed under .4's mighty boot.

Lelouch screamed as the behemoth stepped over him, carried by its own momentum before skidding across the floor and turning to face its pray once more.

Clutching his stump of an arm, Lelouch got to his feet, looking at the beast with terror.

He couldn't do this.

He'd lost.

He turned and ran.

He ducked as Rivalz was thrown over him, missing his head by an inch.

No time.

Lelouch ran.

He ducked his head, sobbing, and ran, blood and darkness and horror everywhere he looked.

Someone caught him and pulled him close to them.

Lelouch shouted, forcing them off, but they held on tight.

Couldn't they see that he had to run?

CAN'T THEY SEE THAT THING?

"LELOUCH!"

The running boy stopped.

"Lelouch, calm down."

Lelouch twisted in her grip and looked up at the person who caught him. "Is that…"

C.C. smiled at him, stroking his hair comfortingly. "It's alright." She told him. "It's me. I'm here."

Lelouch couldn't take it.

He pulled his face into her chest, crying like a lost child who'd found his mother.

It was pathetic.

It was weak.

But he needed it out.

It hurt.

C.C. placed a hand on Lelouch's back.

The fear began to subside as she took his nightmares.

It was alright.

He was safe now.

He was with C.C.…

* * *

**Why Did You Let Him Escape?**

Missingno. smiled at his brother, 'M.

**I didn't.** he replied. **Someone rescued him.**

**You Don't Seem Disappointed**

**He's too interesting to merely torture.** Missingno. replied. **I want to have fun with him.**

**So You're Allowing Him Rest?**

**I'm allowing him to build an army.** Missingno. corrected. **Someone like him won't truly be afraid unless they feel that they're winning until right before you crush them. Did you **_**see**_** his face when Rainer put him in checkmate?**

**I Missed It**

**It was beautiful.** Missingno. grinned. **I want him to lose everything by my hand. For that to happen, he needs something to lose. Again, you missed his relief when he realised that we didn't have his woman.**

**His Father Gave Us The World For One Reason**

**He Must Be Tortured**

**And he will be.** Missingno. promised. **In due time. I'm learning a lot from these humans 'M. Did you know that they even have a name for us, even though they had no idea we existed?**

**Daemons**

**That too, but they have another one.** Missingno. added. '**Chaos', that which is not, yet is. What do you think?**

**You Can Choose That As Our Name If You Wish**

Missingno. smirked, then created a megaphone and rested a foot against an iron railing.

**ATTENTION ALL HUMANS!** Missingno. roared. **EVERYONE ELSE BETTER LISTEN TOO! THAT MEANS DROP WHATEVER OR WHOEVER YOU'RE DOING AND PAY ATTENTION!**

The screams stopped for the first time since this world came to be.

The purple-haired man handed the megaphone to his masked brother, who took it with a sigh.

**WE ARE CHAOS**

**REMEMBER THIS**

**WE SHALL NOT BE DENIED WHAT IS OURS**

**Nice.** Missingno. noted, giving the signal for the demons to resume their work. **And now we wait.**

**For What?**

**For Lelouch of the Rebellion.** Missingno. laughed.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Yeah, you all thought Lelouch was gonna get happy and kick ass here, didn't you?

Well, no. This chapter is to make clear just how screwed Lelouch is. I suppose only I can save him now, huh?

Well, I won't. No way. I got him into this mess, he can get himself out.

Look forward to the next chapter.

For you chess types that want more details on Lelouch's and Rainer's game, here ya go.

1. Nf3 Nc6  
2. Nc3 Nf6  
3. e3 d6  
4. Bc4 Be6  
5. Bxe6 fxe6  
6. O-O Rc8  
7. d3 Kd7  
8. Nb5 h5  
9. Bd2 Nd5  
10. Ng5 Rh6  
11. Qf3 Ne5  
12. Qe4 Rf6  
13. Ba5 Ke8  
14. Nxe6 Rxe6  
15. Qxd5 Rf6  
16. Qxb7 Kf7  
17. Qxa7 Nc6  
18. Qa6 Ne5  
19. f4 Ng4  
20. e4 Ne3  
21. Bc3 Rg6  
22. Rf2 e6  
23. g3 Be7  
24. Qc6 Kg8  
25. Kh1 Bf6  
26. a4 Rg4  
27. a5 Qe7  
28. a6 h4  
29. a7 Bxc3  
30. Nxc3 Kh7  
31. a8=Q Rxa8  
32. Rxa8 hxg3  
33. hxg3 Rxg3  
34. Rh2 Kg6  
35. Ra5 Kf7  
36. Ra8 Kf6  
37. Ra5 Kf7  
38. Ra8 Kf6  
39. Ra5 Kf7  
40. Ra8 Kf6  
41. Ra5 Kf7  
42. Ra8 Nf1  
43. Rh7 Kg6  
44. Rah8 Re3  
45. d4 Re1  
46. b4 Ne3  
47. Kh2 Ng4  
48. Kg2 Ne3  
49. Kh2 d5  
50. f5 Kf7  
51. fxe6 Qxe6  
52. Rf8 Ke7  
53. Qe8 Kd6  
54. Nb5

Nerds.


	47. ZERO

Nightmare Syndrom, I am a huge supporter of the belief that Pride is the single biggest downfall of the human race. You should read the Book of Mormon, it's sad how many nations are destroyed from that.

Yeah, I suppose that's my anvil. Some people think we should save the environment, other people say that war is bad, I say do the impossible, see the invisible, raw raw fight da powah, but don't get cocky.

Collective Heraklinos, excellent analysis, especially the side that isn't Glid.

Colin, that's my other anvil, one that I'm doing with much more subtlety. God is there, but he wants us to pull our hands out of our asses and solve the problem with our own efforts. Maybe he'll help, maybe he won't, but what matters is that he sure as hell isn't going to waltz on stage and solve everything, or else there just isn't any point.

Cowgirl, methinks that means I'm doing my job right.

Feith, that means I'm not doing my job right.

Now, side note. Most of you read my Stay Awake With Me. I'm considering doing more of that, kind of like an OVA series. What do you all think?

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_It's like in the great stories, Lelouch; the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end... because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why._

* * *

Lelouch slept.

He was almost like a child as he slept on C.C.'s lap, and she set there, stroking his hair.

"I know he's hurt." Mew said. "I'll give you time. What do you want me to do?"

C.C. closed her eyes.

What would Lelouch do..?

"Tear Red apart." She said. "And have Suzaku walk with Death."

Mew looked at her.

"Red needs to know pain, to have his soul bared and torn apart, if he's going to survive in there." C.C. explained. "Suzaku needs to lose his lust for death. He needs to know that life is worth living and worth saving, and that Death cares."

Mew thought about it.

"I can take Suzaku to Death." he said. "But Lelouch will have to bring him back."

C.C. nodded. "We'll meet you with Red." She said. "And get your allies to meet the other Geass users. They need guidance. Hopefully some may join us."

Mew nodded, turning into a pink light and leaving the witch and the warlock on the grass.

* * *

_Lelouch stood in a stadium's battle arena._

_He faced himself._

_Lelouch was his opponent._

_"Lelouch Vi Britannia." The other Lelouch said. "Do not allow your emotions nor your body's weakness stop you, nor make you hesitate when faced with a decision or in the need of action. Adapt plans as needed, but otherwise carry out every decision you make unless new information occurs that makes you rethink the situation."_

_"Do not give into despair when plans fail or the worst possible scenario turns out to be better than the current unforeseen circumstance." The other Lelouch continued. "Adapt the situation to your own ends- when you enter hell, conquer it and turn it into heaven. Thrive on the edge of defeat, snatch victory from impossible odds each time."_

_Lelouch opened his eyes wide as the Geass he placed upon himself took effect._

_"Achieve peace on Earth, goodwill to all men."_

* * *

Lelouch stood pushed himself up.

"Better?" C.C. asked him.

"I'll manage." Lelouch replied. "My brain just needed a moment to catch up."

He looked into his hands, flexing his fingers as he stood up.

Darkness danced between his fingers.

"Lelouch-" C.C. began, but he brought a finger to her lips.

"Give me a moment to learn how to do this." He told her. "I'm plotting."

"Lelouch." She repeated, and he turned around.

"My name's Sierra." She said. "You should know."

Lelouch nodded. "Thank you." He said, turning back around and sitting in the grass.

He turned the black chess piece in his hand as the thought.

* * *

Sierra lay on the grass, watching the sky as Lelouch sat, thinking.

Racking his mind for ideas, plots, anything that could help him.

Eventually, the clouds gathered, as if about to rain.

"Lelouch." She said, but there was no response.

Sierra sighed, then sat up.

She couldn't.

The air was too heavy.

She rolled over in the grass and looked at Lelouch.

There were lines in the air.

As if reality itself was shaking just to be near him.

As if it were trying to escape his dark thoughts.

Nasty Plot.

A move that increases the user's Special Attack stat by its initial value.

Using it once would double Lelouch's special attack.

Using it twice would triple it.

Three times and he would be quadruple his power.

How long had Lelouch been plotting for to get this powerful?

* * *

Lelouch stood up. "Let's move." He said.

"You've thought of a plan?" Sierra asked.

"I've thought of several." He said. "This is one is the best I have."

He told her the plan.

It wasn't a very good one.

Compared to what Lelouch was capable of, it was a pathetic strategy with thousands of holes for the enemy to exploit.

But then he told her his other plans.

Lelouch wasn't being lazy.

It was, literally, their best plan.

* * *

Lelouch walked up the staircase to the rooftop and found Suzaku. "I thought I'd find you here." He said.

"What, in the house of Death?" Suzaku replied.

"On the roof." Lelouch clarified. He knew where he'd be. "How've you been?"

"Been shovelling shit since I got here." Suzaku said with half a laugh. "You?"

"Quite good." Lelouch lied, smirking to stop himself from showing fear. "I have a plan."

"Wasn't it you that said that we'd lost?"

"I tend to have panic attacks when someone throws a sizable spanner into the works." Lelouch joked. "Of course, for my plan to work, I intend to throw the biggest spanner of them all."

"You always knew how to ask for a favour." Suzaku sighed, before standing upright.

Lelouch turned around and charged a psywave.

He launched it as Suzaku punched him.

He fell to the ground as Suzaku was launched into the fence.

Focus punch.

Lelouch used Recover, letting the pain melt away.

"Where'd you learn that trick?" Suzaku asked as Lelouch forced himself to his feet.

"I'll tell you on the way." Lelouch replied, walking over to his friend to help him up. "C.C.'s downstairs. We just need to pick up our last teammate and we're ready to go."

"Red?" Suzaku asked, taking the traitor's hand.

Lelouch nodded as Suzaku's clothes changed into armour. "I'm surprised." Suzaku said. "You haven't asked me to forgive you."

_'That's because I don't deserve forgiveness.'_ He thought. "I've apologised enough." Lelouch said instead of answering Suzaku's not-question. "But I'll forgive you regardless of what you do."

Suzaku's shoulders shook.

Lelouch used Detect, but foresaw no malice.

Suzaku laughed at the sky.

It was a powerful laugh at the absurdity of the universe.

It was a laugh Lelouch hadn't heard in far too long.

"Unbelievable!" Suzaku shouted once he began to calm down. "You've slaughtered millions, lied, cheated, ruined lives, made people your puppets, and yet you STILL hold the moral high ground!"

Lelouch just grinned back at him, knowing the truth.

'_That's because I do... In comparison.'_

* * *

"Hang on a sec." Suzaku told Lelouch on the way down, running down a corridor and knocking on a door, then opening it.

"I'll just be leaving, sir." Suzaku announced, poking his head through the door.

**What Is Mercy? **Death asked, his voice shaking Lelouch so much that he was forced to come closer.

"To be unfair and forgive those who don't deserve a second chance." Suzaku answered.

**What Purpose Does Death Have When There's Nothing Left?**

"To care." Suzaku replied. "And to provide mercy when there's no justice."

**Why Did You Muck Out The Stables?**

"Because mucking out the world is a job for a shovel, not a scythe." Lelouch answered, pushing the door open and facing what he no longer feared. "Because horrible jobs need doing, but they need to be done by the right people."

**That Is Incorrect.**

Lelouch's eyes widened in surprise as Suzaku smiled. "Because Shit Happens." The brown-haired boy said. "Deal With It."

Death nodded with a macabre grin as Suzaku closed the door.

"Looks like I win." Suzaku smirked.

"For once." Lelouch replied, throwing an arm around his ally's neck. "Let's move."

* * *

Red stood amongst a white world as Sierra led Lelouch and Suzaku to him.

"Are you ready?" Mew asked Red

Red spun the hat onto his head and walked towards Lelouch. "Let's go kick some ass." He said.

"I'm coming too."

Everyone turned to the blonde young man dressed in dark robes as he walked onto the world.

* * *

#000  
Wes  
Dark/Psychic  
The Shadow Pokémon

* * *

"Shadow Snatcher." Lelouch recognised the former Knight from his father's short-lived reassembly.

"Don't think you're the only ones who have a stake in this..." the ex-knight said, standing before them. "You're not the only ones who have been watching the heart of this world. We _all _are, in the end. Took the end of the world to get us to see it, but..." He shook his head and met Lelouch's eyes, Geass sigils flaring. "My Geass is that of Purification." He said. "I can see the darkness in people's and pokémon's hearts and take steps to purify them. I'm skilled in the usage of Shadow Moves."

Lelouch nodded, adapting the scenario to fit his new ally.

Then, in that empty world, it rained.

Lightning flashes across the sky as powerful sunlight filled the world that wasn't darkened by the storm clouds.

* * *

#000  
Brendan  
Ground/Water  
The Genesis Pokémon

[

* * *

"A trainer and his party of six." Mew said, looking at Lelouch. "Could there be a better way to end this?"

"With a wizard coming in to save the day." Brendan joked, then held out a fist to Lelouch. "Well, I could do worse with Zero leading the charge, I guess."

"What?" Lelouch asked, bumping the fist gingerly.

"The bastard's your dad, but he fucked my memories and stole my life." Brendan told Lelouch. "Both the me before him and the me after him are dead, leaving me in the middle, so we're gonna play to decide who gets to kill him."

Lelouch smiled, then pushed the fist away.

"He's all yours." Lelouch told him. "I want nothing more to do with him."

Suzaku and Red's jaws dropped, and Sierra smiled knowingly.

"Are we ready?" she asked.

Mew nodded.

Wes nodded.

Brendan nodded.

Red nodded.

"For the sake of prisoners and the flight of birds." Suzaku said.

"What can the harvest hope for, if not for us to grant them salvation?" Lelouch asked, distorting the quote for his needs as he turned around. "Let's go, to hell we ride."

"Just a second." Mew said, reaching out for Lelouch.

He dodged

"I fight as a Code." He said, refusing Mew's touch. "Part of the plan."

Mew gave him a strange look, but submitted.

* * *

Missingno. laughed.

It was a dark, twisted, demonic laugh that shook hell a thousand times over.

'**M. h POKé. O+. .4. Rainer. PkMnaPkMnfPkMnk.** He said in his impossible tongue. **We have a battle to wage.**

His subordinates abandoned their duties and walked to their master.

**For the sake of prisoner's and the flight of birds.** Missingno. laughed. **The harvest has no hope, for the harvester is but a scythe in the hands of an uncaring master. **

**The battle of humans and daemons shall be fought as Pokémon.** He laughed as Lelouch returned to face him. **You amuse me no end.**

Lelouch glared into the eyes of Missingno. as his allies stared down the spawn of Chaos.

Lelouch stepped forward.

Missingno. did the same.

**Fair game?** Missingno. asked, offering his hand to shake.

Lelouch took it.

"**Not a chance in hell.**" He said, unleashing his Judgement attack.

Not as a Pokémon.

Not as a Code.

Not as a human.

"He advanced his Code using _Missingno.'s_ power…" Mew realised as light was absorbed into the dark sphere than eclipsed Missingno. and Lelouch. "That magnificent bastard…"

Missingno. roared as his siblings charged for Mew and the five Masters.

"We'll carry out Red Destiny." Red said, charging dark red flames into his hands.

"Kill 'em all." Brendan agreed, carrying flames in his right hand and ice in his left.

Mew, Suzaku, Red and Sierra brought their own powers into play and charged into the battle.

* * *

**There's just one thing I need to ask.** Missingno. told Lelouch, pushing the energy back with his own attack. **How do you intend to take everyone home?**

"**Sure, I'll just reveal all my plans because there's nothing you can do to stop me.**" Lelouch snarled. "**Do you think I'm stupid?**"

Missingno. laughed. **Man and demon! You are fascinating!**

Lelouch brought his other hand back and rammed it into Missingno.'s gut, then drove his knee up into the demon's chin, before bringing his hands together and slamming his fists down on the back of his neck.

Then Missingno. glowed.

Sky attack.

Lelouch stepped back and blocked as Missingno.'s hands blurred and struck pressure point after pressure point, crippling Lelouch within seconds.

Lelouch glared at Missingno., and the beast stopped its assault, falling to its knees and coughing up ichor.

**Pain Split. ** He recognised as Lelouch used Recover. **You cheating bastard.**

Lelouch didn't make a witty retort, choosing instead to kick Missingno. in the jaw, sending him back to the ground.

Missingno. laughed. **Here we fight beneath the red sky and the black sun.** he said. **With the human race as our prize.**

"**Prize?**" Lelouch asked. "**What prize? This is revenge.**"

* * *

Red Destiny.

A strategy derived from the one command worth remembering.

Attack. Attack. And Attack.

Pick a target, and tear him to pieces.

Mew clashed with 'M, the pink spheres of power pushing against the dark claws of chaos.

Sierra leapt over O+, charging for her intended target, the god of war.

.4.

It roared, driving its axe through her chest.

As a ghost, she just charged straight through it and leapt into the air, charging a Superpower attack and ramming it into the beasts burning skull.

Red slammed an elbow into O+, going straight for the closest overpowered enemy. "**SUZAKU, YOU TAKE BALDIE!**" he shouted.

Suzaku had already torn a burning arm through the demon shaped like a bald man in a robe made of liquid stone, but it healed the damage and launched a barrage of grenades at Suzaku.

Wes brought darkness into his arms and slammed them into the massive beast that was h Poké. Scanning it with his Geass, he grinned. "**You're nothing more than a big gengar.**" He realised, charging up a psychic attack to his hand as he held the beast close.

There was an explosion, and Wes was launched back.

**CAN'T MISS WHEN YOU'RE THAT CLOSE**

Wes snarled, but returned to fight.

Brendan held his arms out wide as lightning danced around the battlefield. Rainer laughed as a bolt struck him.

**You idiot! Half of us are of the ground type!**

Brendan grinned.

Rainer realised his mistake.

The floods came.

* * *

Lelouch slammed Missingno. into the lake of blood, taking the hits from the super-charged Missingno. as it came.

**Interesting. ** Missingno. said as Lelouch leapt back to heal his wounds. **You are certainly a pokémon, or at least a demon, for you have attacks. ** He tilted his head at Lelouch. **Yet, I cannot decipher your weakness. Every attack I use you just shrug off and recover-**

Missingno. let out a gasp of realisation as he pointed at Lelouch, wagging his finger with a smirk. **Your ability is Filter. Super effective techniques inflict normal damage to you.**

"**So you can think.**" Lelouch said. "**Impressive.**"

Missingno. laughed, then grinned. **Well, giving myself the Mold Breaker ability should fix that- oh, you are good.**

"**You catch on quick.**" Lelouch glared.

**Two abilities, one that removes all weaknesses, and one that prevents me from using my ability.**

Lelouch didn't intend on him from working that out so quickly.

He adapted the scenario.

Lelouch raised a hand to the red sky, and it turned dark silver.

Doom Desire.

**I see.** Missingno. nodded. **You never intended to save mankind. You just want us dead.**

"**You really do catch on quick.**" Lelouch spat as brought his hand down, slamming the sky of steel into his enemy.

* * *

Hell shook.

The quake devastated the prison that encased humanity.

All the lesser demons looked at the falling sky in fear.

In terror.

They understood what man felt that day.

A countless time ago.

Fear against an unstoppable force.

Fear against an alien strength.

Fear of an insect facing the end of everything.

The sky was falling.

And Lelouch was dragging it down.

* * *

_Gut the animals. They won't feel a thing. You're all pigs in shit_

_You should just call your mothers out. _

_They'd be so proud of you._

_As you celebrate human suffering._

_We are privileged. We are all obliged. _

_Just go fuck yourself._

_I am your sword of Damocles._

_Get down on your knees._

_Will you have mercy on us please?_

* * *

Demon and human alike screamed.

Reality stretched under the sheer force of the attack.

Missingno. grabbed Lelouch by the back of the neck and dragged him back.

The Doom Desire was dragged back up and tore through the atmosphere as it tore through the red sky.

**I have no room for your nihilism.**

Lelouch grinned as everything fell into place.

"**Where are the pokémon?**" he asked Missingno..

* * *

It was a simple question.

Innocent enough, if you weren't aware of the weight it carried.

Where are the pokémon?

"**The humans are down below, and you are having lots of fun making them suffer.**" Lelouch said. "**But not the pokémon, why is that?**"

Missingno. froze, and Lelouch laughed.

"**You're scared.**" Lelouch declared. "**Humans have the intelligence, the wisdom, the thirst for battle. Our limit is that our power is locked in pokémon, and they will only lend their strength to humans that earn their power.**"

He turned to face Missingno. "**So why don't they suffer with us?**" he asked. "**Why are pokémon except from your judgement? Or is it that you don't dare?**"

Missingno. was silent.

"**You know that you can only keep us under your thumb because we have no means to fight back.**" Lelouch continued. "**You strip us of our clothing, our homes, our weapons, our pride, and our pokémon, because you're terrified of what will happen if you give us a moment to stop and think.**"

Lelouch tapped his skull. "**Guess what I did once I got half a chance to breathe?**"

Missingno. laughed. **You're so arrogant. Possessed by your own Geass, you're incapable of fear, aren't you?**

He tapped Lelouch on the head. **Let's fix that, shall we?**

Lelouch felt the fear flood his body.

He felt his Geass die.

He felt the futility of it all.

He felt the reality of the chaos around him, the horror at his life lost forever, of everything he loved trapped in this maelstrom of horror, tortured beyond description.

And he laughed.

He just laughed.

"**It's too late.**" Lelouch said. "**The events are in motion. The demons stopped, and the humans heard my words.**"

"**They're thinking. They've realised that there is only one thing stopping them from taking hell from your very hands.**"

Lelouch turned around and scanned the world, and locked eyes with one frozen combatant.

"**MEW!**" Lelouch commanded, Geass flaring with greater strength than ever before. "**OPEN THE GATE! LET POKÉMON FIGHT ALONGSIDE MAN ONCE MORE! BRING ALL POKÉMON HERE TO FIGHT WITH US!**"

The father of pokémon and mankind saluted, bound by Lelouch's Geass but driven by a wish for hope, the embodiment of the Power of Kings.

"**YES!**" he shouted, spreading his arms as the sky split open. "**YOUR HIGHNESS!**"

* * *

Missingno. was the only one that could open the gate.

Lelouch just needed to trick him into doing it.

The tear in the sky widened, and a gateway was formed, piercing the red canopy of hell like a light at the end of a tunnel.

Through the abyss, billions of pokémon fell through.

Pokémon found their masters, and with smiles, trainer was reunited with their partners.

It wasn't long before the spell of fear was broken.

Fear only lasts until hope is gone.

Hope was not lost.

Hope was there.

But not just hope.

Anger.

Rage.

Revenge.

Justice.

Hate.

Mankind had power.

And it was filled with hate.

And man did what man does best.

Destroyed and conquered.

* * *

Missingno. looked in horror as man and pokémon fought demon. His forces crumpled under the weight of the true rulers of the world, the vengeful, hopeful, terrified, furious, joyful horde of humanity. As one beast of chaos they crashed against the demons, devastating them almost without effort, toppling them from their pedstals of torment.

"**All I needed to do was tear open the sky, and bring them hope.**" Lelouch said, smirking as the world below burned for all the right reasons. "**Man was never meant to be defeated. Man may be broken, but never defeated. The word has no meaning to this species.**"

Missingno. glared at Lelouch.

**It matters not.** He said. **So a war between man and gods is what you desire?**

"**No.**" Lelouch said. "**This is a battle between pokémon and demons for humans, with the greatest demon of them all leading the side that shall take victory.**"

Missingno. glared as Lelouch raised two hands wide.

Fire in his left hand.

Lightning in his right.

The red sky turned blue as white and black clouds spread through the sky.

* * *

#000  
Lelouch  
Fire/Electric  
The Lightbringer Pokémon

* * *

Red smashed O+ to the ground as chaos raged around him. "**You see that?**" he laughed. "**That's my brother up there.**"

**This is wonderful! This pain! This anarchy!**

Red punched her face in.

"**Double Normal type.**" He realised, seeing how much damage a simple Fighting attack did. "**Oh, this'll be fun.**"

* * *

Sierra slammed a kneecap into the burning skull of .4, and it roared in pain.

She swung over its shoulders and landed on the ground behind it.

She waved her fingers as .4 turned around, taunting it to attack.

The blood god roared, charging at the witch.

She drove a fist into its gut- a sucker punch that tore through its bloody frenzy and brought soul eater to its knees.

* * *

Suzaku leapt around the demon, leaning under a hyperbeam that tore through another demon's chest.

This monster's name was unpronounceable to the human tongue, but its power was equal to that of Arceus.

He wasn't going to do this alone.

A massive, black claw drove the beat to the ground.

Darkrai.

"EUPHIE!" Suzaku shouted.

His princess was standing behind his enemy, an arm outstretched as she forced her nightmares to bring the monster down.

She smiled through the pain, and Darkrai roared, feeding off of her fear and pain and wiping it away.

Suzaku nodded, then leapt for the fallen enemy, prepared to finish it in one blow.

* * *

"**Shadowblast.**" Wes declared, launching a blast of dark wind at the massive monster.

It tore through its pathetic defences, ripping the massive beast to shreds.

Wes didn't even give it a chance to recover the damage as he blazed into the carnage with an axe, hacking his way through the flesh and burning the beast alive.

* * *

Brendan smashed Rainer through the wall and he found his target.

Emperor Charles Zi Britannia, chained and bleeding to the wall.

"**I remember.**" He said, tossing the bloody and beaten Rainer aside. "**I remember everything.**"

He leant in and whispered into the man's ear. "**I know what you did, you bastard.**"

He stood up and laughed. "**You know I offered him the chance to kill you himself?**" Brendan asked. "**He said he couldn't be arsed. You're not worth his time.**"

He smirked at the anger on the Emperor's face, but the old man was lacking a jaw or a tongue with which to voice it. "**You know what the funniest thing is?**" Brendan asked him. "**You did all this, destroyed the world, enslaved the human race, and put yourself through hell just so he would suffer, and he's using that to his advantage. He's taking everything you've done and he's spinning it to turn himself into a messiah.**"

The Emperor's hate melted into horror.

"**That's right.**" Brendan laughed. "**Thanks to your actions, your son Lelouch is now the god of the new world. And it will be a new world.**" He said. "**We will win this war. We will drive the demons from hell and rebuild a new earth for all humans and pokémon to live in harmony, destroying everything you ever worked towards.**"

Brendan spat. "**I thought I'd enjoy this.**" He said. "**Watching you suffer in the knowledge that everything you ever wished for will never come true, but it just tastes bad.** **All I'm doing is torturing a lonely old man who'll die alone and unloved. I'm no better than these bastards.**"

Brendan looked away and raised an arm.

Stone rose through the wall, tearing through the Emperor's head, killing him instantly.

"**I can see why he said you weren't worth his time.**" Brendan said, storming back into the battle. "**You were barely worth mine.**"

* * *

Mew threw 'M down. "You see this?" he asked. "This was why I kept your worlds separate." He said. "It was for your sakes. That which is not can never hope to last against that which _is_."

**We Are.**

"No, you are not." Mew said sadly. "And that's the truth. You're nothing, an accident, and I'm sorry." He said, raising his hand into a finishing blow, correcting the error of 'M's nonexistence after an impossibly painful eternity. "I am so, so sorry."

* * *

"**The gauntlet has been thrown down, and tonight we burn.**" Lelouch laughed. "**For behold, the foul beast has risen from the abyss, ten horns on its seven heads, its cup brimming with all manner of sins and abominations. It has the appearance of a child but speaks as giratina itself.**" He let his head fall and glared Missingno. in the eye. "**You started this. You destroyed our world. And now you shall face our Armageddon.**"

Two great behemoths flew through the sky- Reshiram and Zekrom.

**Light and Darkness.**

"**Peace and War.**" Lelouch finished. "**Man and Pokémon.**"

**Reality and Nightmare.**

"**You are an error.**" Lelouch of the Rebellion told Missingno. as the war below was won. "**And we shall end you.**"

**You are nothing, human.**

"**I AM ZERO!**" Lelouch roared as war broke out below him. "**I AM EVERYTHING AND I AM NOTHING! I STAND WITH ALL THOSE WHO HAVE NO POWER TO DEFEND THEMSELVES! REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY BE HUMAN OR POKÉMON!**"

"**Your cowardly acts were atrocities, a wanton, meaningless act, so I passed judgement.**" Lelouch said, taking a breath. "**I will not stand by and let such cruelty be carried out, so your race shall pay for their actions.**"

"**I will not refuse to fight.**" Lelouch continued. "**Rather, a battle is such a thing of honour and pride! But will I tolerate a one-sided massacre of the weak by the strong? NO!**"

"**The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed**!" The Lightbringer preached. "**When those with power attack the powerless, we shall appear again, no matter how mighty or formidable our foe may be!**"

"**You with power.**" Lelouch warned, flicking his left hand out as it burst into flame. "**FEAR US! Those without power…**" He flicked his right arm as it burst into flame. "**JOIN US! WE! THE HUMAN RACE! SHALL TAKE! THIS! WORLD!**"

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

And that's the truth.

You cannot keep us down. Not for long, at any rate.

Once the spell is broken and we are given strength, we will fight.

And we will conquer.


	48. NEON GENESIS

We're reaching the end of this fic. Let's get this done.

But first, an announcement. After months of preparations, my mission papers have finally been completed and have been sent off to Salt Lake City! In six-eight weeks, I'll know where and when I'm going, and when I do, I'll let you all know.

And I do believe that this chapter exceeds Fairly English Story. Very well done to me.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment._

* * *

**You have caused me to itch, little Pokérus.** Missingno. sighed as war raged below. **I feel a little inclined to **_**scratch.**_

A fist plunged into Lelouch's stomach, forcing him to double over from the impact. Missingno.'s eyes glowed, and an elbow span around and smashed into the boy's temple, hurling him from the air he was standing upon and towards the ground.

* * *

_Wisdom is but beginning of fear._

* * *

Mew twisted around at the crashing noise behind him, and a black hand plunged into his neck and tore out his throat.

He gagged, falling back as 'M slammed an open palm into his face and smashed his skull against the ground.

* * *

_It would be typical of the followers of Chaos to perpetuate such a hoax, if only to give desperate humans a shadow of hope that could be snatched away._

* * *

Darkrai's hand gripped Euphemia's torso. "EUPHIE!" Suzaku screamed as he charged for her, only to be slammed to the ground by the monster's massive hand.

* * *

_It's like in the great stories, Lelouch; the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end... because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened?_

* * *

Red was pushed into the air by a volley of spikes that burst from O+'s torso.

She rose to her feet, laughing as more spears tore his flesh apart.

* * *

_But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why._

* * *

.4 stopped the world and rose to his feet.

Time continued, and he grabbed the irritating woman by her green hair and pulled her into the air.

She didn't fear him.

Time to correct that.

* * *

_You and I, Lelouch, are still stuck in the worst places of the story, and it is all too likely that some will say at this point: 'Shut the book now, dad; we don't want to read any more…'_

* * *

**You were always a thinker Lelouch.** Missingno. said, grabbing him by the scalp and lifting him from the crater. **I know that you say that if a trainer doesn't lead, his pokémon won't follow, but remember that your pokémon are the ones that fight your wars for you.**

"It's a trade." Lelouch chuckled. "They want strength. They want direction. We give it to them. They can always say no."

**Except when they can't.**

"So, you're the voice of Pokémon's justice then?" Lelouch chuckled darkly before vomiting blood. "That's a good one."

**I don't remember when you became an idiot hero. **Missingno. said. **I rather liked you better when you were a dark messiah. A chess master. A terrorist. Why did you stop using fear as a weapon?**

"**Who says I didn't?**"

* * *

_Everybody knows that everybody dies and nobody knows it like you do Lelouch. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark if you ever, even for one moment, accept it. _

* * *

Missingno.'s eyes widened and his free hand lashed out and crushed his knuckles. **Clever. Using the code of the universe against me. Almost worked too. I'd best get your other hand too.**

Lelouch was thrown lightly into the air as Missingno lashed out and broke his other hand. **Fire and Lightning.** Missingno. said. **That's what I don't get. Dark and Psychic suits you so much better.**

Lelouch forced himself to his feet, battered and bleeding, and stared at Missingno.

**Who are you?** Missingno. asked. **Here, in the darkness of hell? Who are you really?**

* * *

_Everybody knows that everybody dies. But not every day. _

_Not today. _

* * *

There was silence, apart from the humming song that came from Lelouch's mouth.

**You just don't stop, do you? **Missingno. asked, tearing the voice box from Lelouch's throat.

* * *

_Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. _

_Some days, nobody dies at all. _

* * *

Then came the clicking.

**Even with your tongue?** Missingno. laughed, forcing a hand inside Lelouch's mouth and shouting in pain. **BITING NOW LITTLE POKÉRUS?** He roared, tearing his hand from the boy's jaw and ramming a fist into his skull.

* * *

_Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair and the hero comes to call, Everybody Lives. This is one of those days Lelouch._

_Death does not ride with us today._

* * *

Missingno.'s arm burst into flames.

He stepped back as the human forced himself to his feet.

**You just don't give up, do you?** He laughed.

* * *

_I know that what you're going to do is impossible. _

_Do it anyway. _

* * *

The human screamed, and slammed a broken fist into the monster's jaw.

The beast stepped, back, and turned again to face the human with a smile.

The human slammed another fist into his face.

* * *

_Out of hope, out of duty, out of love._

_If nothing else, do it because you're a spiteful bastard._

* * *

The human screamed something incoherent, running at his foe.

Missingno. grasped the human's face.

**Perhaps I'll take that eye of yours.** Missingno. said, pressing his thumb into The human's eye socket. **That eye filled with hate.**

* * *

_Make them earn every drop of human blood they spill. For every scream they steal from us, cover the sounds with their pain. _

_Make them understand why humans took the world and they didn't._

* * *

The human rammed two thumbs into Missingno.'s neck, jabbing at the jugular veins.

**Lelouch, you know I don't breathe.** The monster laughed as he popped the human's left eye from its socket. **Why would there by blood in my veins?**

* * *

_Even if you're trapped by a cycle of pain and punishment, the path you carved will lead the way. _

_If even the infinite universe will turn against you, push fate aside with your own hands._

* * *

Black blood spurted through the human's fingers.

**WHAT? **The beast screeched as an impossible sensation shot through his neck.

After a split second of horror, her realised it was pain he was feeling. **HOW?**

The human slammed his forehead into Missingno's, bringing him to the ground.

* * *

_Reach another level with each breath. __Evolve beyond the person you were a moment ago. Become stronger with each step._

_Because you are human. It's what we are._

* * *

The human stood over Missingno., his back blocking the light from the black sun, casting a white shadow over the demon.

Blue lights appeared around the human, and he glared at the monster with his one remaining eye as he stepped on his chest.

A Geass flared.

* * *

_You have walked through valleys of sin and oceans of night. You have looked demons and traitors in their eyes. You have heard the whispers of dark things that wanted your soul. _

_And never once have you encountered anything that has struck the fear into you that an error would feel if it ever truly understood the resolve of the Human Race. _

* * *

The humans mouth moved, but no sound came from his bleeding lips.

He raised his hands, and two bloodied objects flew into them.

He placed his tongue and his voicebox back into place.

* * *

_Because defiance endures. Defiance was always here. Before man was, defiance waited for him. _

_The ultimate act awaiting its ultimate practitioner._

* * *

The human slammed a bloodied fist into the monster's throat.

Missingno. coughed up black blood, and the human drove another vicious fist into the beast's head.

The human screamed, kneeling down and ramming a hand that burnt with white light.

His love, his anger, and all of his sorrow burnt in that light.

* * *

_So, I'm going to tell you what you told me, Lelouch. _

* * *

The world shook.

Pokémon, human, and error stopped still and looked at the sky.

There stood Missingno. and a bleeding human.

His flesh was torn. His bones broken. His breathing heavy.

Yet he still stood.

Missingno. Raised its head, and the human rammed another fist into it.

The demon retaliated, and the human took the blow and returned it with even more fury.

The demon stabbed a hand through the human's chest, and blood rained from the wound.

The human grabbed the arm in his side, and snapped it with a primal scream.

A scream of defiance.

A scream that would not stop.

A scream that would never stop.

A scream that would never die.

A scream of anger.

A scream of a human.

O+'s head flew from her shoulders.

"**WE ARE MANKIND!**" Red roared, clutching his wounds as his pokémon stood with him. "**AND WE ARE POKÉMON! WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE SILENCE! WE ARE A PROUD **_**'YES!'**_** IN A WORLD THAT DEMANDS A **_**'NO!'**_**!**"

"**WE WILL NOT SUBMIT!**" Red screamed with his brother, preaching the words he could not, words that echoed throughout the blood drenched, desolate world and to the hearts of all, giving hope to the light and fear to the dark. "**WE ARE WAR INCARNATE! WHEN THE ENEMY CAME AND TOOK OUR WORLD, OUR FREEDOM, OUR PRIDE, WE WERE WAITING FOR IT WITH THE ANGER AND HATE OF SEVEN THOUSAND YEARS OF WAR ON OUR BACKS! BECAUSE WE **_**ARE**_**! **_**THEY!**_** SHALL **_**NOT!**_"

"**THIS IS THE DAWN OF OUR NEW WORLD**" he shouted, blood mixing with the tears as the golden sun rose to consume the black noonday. "**HUMANS! POKÉMON!**"

* * *

_**LIVE! ON!**_

* * *

Missingno. chuckled.

**You did it.** He said, staggering as war was waged below. **You took hell from the demons and made it your own. You stole light from the darkness, and brought hope to the hopeless. You've won.**

A bloody knuckle slammed into the demon's face, the bare bone exposed to the polluted air as the human gulped it down like the precious fuel it was.

**What's wrong Lelouch?** Missingno. chuckled, clutching his bleeding chin. **I'm giving up. You win. I'll walk away.**

The human staggered forward, raising another fist.

**Lelouch isn't there anymore, is he?** Missingno. asked.

The fist went through the demon's skull.

Darkness fell.

And blazing light stood proud.

* * *

_In the beginning, there was chaos and pain in a dead land under a red sky and a black sun._

_Then mew came and opened the door in the world. Pokémon spilled out, and saved the humans from the monsters._

_Then Reshiram and Zekrom tore the sky, and the sky became blue._

_Then there was a war, a great war, with humans and pokémon fighting against the monsters._

_Good prevailed over evil, and darkness fell. Light cleansed the world._

_And there was love._

_After so much fear and pain, love and friendship helped heal the wounds._

* * *

The humans and their pokémon stood proud in the world they had won.

Friends and families found each other.

Mother and child.

Lover and lover.

Father with family.

There was relief.

There was joy.

There was love.

"Love without pain is meaningless." Sierra said, looking over the scene. "Adam fell that men might be, and men are, that they might have joy."

"Yeah." Red nodded, sitting next to her and watching the sky. "What do you think happened to Lellow?"

"I don't know." The witch said. "I'll tell you when I find out."

Red looked at her, then smiled.

"Thanks Auntie." He said, standing upright. "All lives touch other lives to create something new and alive…"

"Hm?" Sierra asked, turning to face him.

"Nothing." Red sighed, offering a hand to help her up. "Go find him." he told her. "Everyone else is."

C.C. took the hand with a smile. "Thank you." She said, pulling him into a hug. "Don't wait for me."

"Once we get everything working, we've got a pizza with your name on it." Red joked as a lugia descended next to them. "That's Ryujin, isn't it?" he asked as the witch boarded her mount.

Sierra smiled as the mighty beast rose into the air and blasted through the sky towards the setting sun.

* * *

_Kyogre and Groudon raised the lands and filled the seas._

_Rayquaza reigned over them, and made the wind blow, cleansing the stagnant air._

_Regigigas lead Regirock, Regice, and Registeel in the creation of mountains and valleys. The flat world took shape._

_Shaymin danced across the land, and grass grew where he stepped._

_Suicune, Raikou and Entei ran across the land. Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres flew through the sky, and weather returned._

_Humans worked with Pokémon, and together they built a world from the nothing left behind by pain._

* * *

Red stood with the other Geass users and Codes from the destroyed world and faced the multitude as he explained the nature of the Geass.

How it was a test created by Mew, how it had brought so much pain to the world, yet how it saved them.

He explained the nature of each Geass, especially his brother's.

How it forced people to do evil, even when he desired not that end.

How it could even make one such as Euphemia commit horrific acts of Genocide.

How he had to Geass himself just to save the human race.

Lelouch was not remembered as a messiah, but nor was he despised as a monster.

He was a hero that wanted to make the world a better place.

And because of him, Eschaton had ushered forth a world of light and hope instead of pain.

* * *

_Once the land was replenished, man built._

_They didn't abuse the fresh world they had built._

_Man built cities amongst nature. No longer was it man's needless dominance over the world._

_This was a compromise. An agreement between two parties, man and pokémon._

* * *

Red stood in his office, watching the people and the pokémon work below.

At this point, everything was shared, and there was no ill between the people.

It wasn't utopia, but it was close.

For now.

Red knew humans better than to trust in communism.

But the love of money was the root of many evils.

He had to trust that people would love each other more that trade.

* * *

_And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start_

_To mould a new reality closer to the heart_

_The blacksmith and the artist reflect it in their art_

_They forge their creativity closer to the heart_

_Philosophers and ploughmen, each must know his part_

_To sow a new mentality closer to the heart_

_You can be the captain, I will draw the chart_

_Sailing into destiny. Closer to the heart_

* * *

Suzaku carried his wife over the threshold of their new home that day.

Red got drunk for the first time in a long time.

Many laughed. A few cried.

It was a good day.

It had been three years since their new beginning.

It was a very good day.

* * *

A man staggered across the grassy wasteland.

While the legendaries had cleansed this hell, humanity had yet to expand this far.

This was a world far larger than the mere 510,072,000 kilometre planet that had been snatched from them, and they hadn't even been finished exploring the last one in its entirety.

There was room for far more than a mere six billion humans and countless pokémon in this new world.

The man stumbled into the arms of a woman.

"Sierra..?" the man asked.

"It's okay Lelouch." She said with a smile. "You did it."

The man chuckled, and then he slept.

It was a good day.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Earn your happy ending.

Two chapters left.


	49. The Ending We Chose

Here this is. The final chapter of the story. Kinda. This WAS going to be a double post, but Varanus is going through some shit right now. He's fine, but...

Feith, Lyra/Crystal is Krys. She was one of the bridge bunnies of Zero City.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

Sierra woke up to find his hand fondling her breast. "Stop it!" she laughed, playfully batting his hand away. "First thing in the morning and you're already at it?"

"I was just thinking, what would be the best way to start my day, and it just came to me." He told her with a smirk.

She laughed. "Don't you start." She said, turning around to face him, when her knee hit something hard.

And round.

She looked down along the bed, and Lelouch followed her horrified gaze.

There was a pokémon egg in the bed.

* * *

_The light that was born at the world's end is now in the wind_

_I can't live just by whitewashing I can't heal just by kindness_

_What was stolen? In an unchanging world what did I hear? A colourful song_

_Everything is bright_

_So to let shattered dreams echo to the edge of tomorrow_

_Light was born at the world's end; we become one, now in the wind _

* * *

Lelouch and Sierra knelt on the bed, considering their find.

"We're not human anymore." Lelouch suggested. "Pokémon lay eggs."

"I'd know if I laid an egg." Sierra pointed out.

"Would you?" Lelouch asked. "No one has ever seen a pokémon produce an egg. For all we know a delibird could deliver them in the night."

She rapped her knuckles on his forehead.

"What was that for?" Lelouch asked her, rubbing his head.

"Did those three years fighting Missingno. rob you of what little intellect you had previously?" she asked him. "I'm prepared to leave you if you became an idiot."

"Don't be ridiculous." Lelouch grunted, falling back into the bed.

Crack.

Lelouch shot up.

There as a crack in the egg.

Crack crack.

Crack crack crack.

Crack.

"Roko."

Lelouch stared dumbfounded at the brown alligator pokémon that crawled out of the egg and looked around its surroundings. Eventually it hopped off the side of the bed and walked out of the Secret Base as Sierra fell back onto the bed, laughing.

"Shut up witch." Lelouch grumbled, tucking his face into his knees. "How was I supposed to know it wasn't mine?"

"Hm?" Sierra asked. "I seem to recall you saying something similar to that at one point…"

Lelouch smirked and rolled over on the bed, lying atop of her. "Oh really?" he asked, worming a hand into hers.

Bzt.

Lelouch leant in to kiss her.

**Bzt.**

They both looked at their intertwined hands.

They were covered in a ball of white and green energy.

_**BZT.**_

"Not me!" Lelouch shouted, trying to pull his hand from the orb.

Sierra just grunted, trying to pull her own hand away from the storm.

The light dissipated and their heads were clasped across a solid white sphere that was speckled with green spots.

An egg.

…

"Okay, we just laid an egg." Sierra admitted.

* * *

Shirley forced walked out of the hospital and faced the friend that had helped her recover over the past few years.

"You still won't tell me your name." Shirley pointed out.

The woman smiled at Shirley.

"That's not for me to decide." She said, holding a red Cherish Ball. "I'll get a name one day."

Shirley titled her head in confusion, then realised. "It's Lulu, isn't it?"

The woman looked down sadly, then smiled. "We pokémon are like that." She said. "We just can't abandon our master until he dies."

Shirley nodded. "I know he's alive somewhere too."

* * *

Chiba and Urabe lifted their glasses in celebration to Toudou's and Chiba's announcement.

Toudou smiled as he downed his glass, Chiba rubbing her swollen belly with a laugh.

Rivalz reached over the table and poked her in the belly, earning Kallen's fist in the back of his head.

Urabe laughed harder, then called the barman to bring them more drinks.

* * *

"WE'VE DONE IT!" Bill shouted, pumping his fists in triumph. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have rebuilt the computer!"

Nina shouted for joy, pulling Celio into a kiss before pushing him off and throwing her arms around Lanette and jumping up and down in the air.

Bill laughed as Bebe jumped onto his back, riding him around the lab like a horse.

Jeremiah grinned, glad to have been part of the achievement.

* * *

Crack.

Lelouch ran into the base at the noise, Sierra rolling over to watch the egg.

CRACK.

A green pokémon scratched its mess of thick black hair that covered its scalp.

"Mew?" it asked, looking up at its parents.

"He looks just like you." Sierra smirked, picking the mew up into her arms. "Don't you, Alphonse?"

"Mew!"

* * *

_Long long ago, there was a monster without a heart._

_It looked with jealousy at the other monsters, and envied their hearts, and the love the humans had for those monsters with hearts._

_"If only I had a heart." the monster thought, "Then I too would be loved like the others."_

_So the monster came down from the sky, and it set out on a journey to take a heart._

_It split into two, in search for a heart._

_One half of the monster went far away, to strange lands in order to search for a heart._

_But the other half of the monster found a beautiful young lady, who took the monster lovingly and gave it a name._

_She raised the monster like her own child- giving it support, cherishing it, disciplining it when it did wrong, helping it make friends._

_The monster was happy._

_One day, the monster saw some strange men. They wanted to hurt the young lady._

_The monster didn't like that. These men had hearts, and they refused to love the lady like the lady loved the monster._

_The monster grew angry, and it took the hearts from the evil men._

_The lady screamed._

_She screamed in terror at the monster she had raised, beating it with sticks and ordering the monster to leave._

_The monster took her heart too._

_The monster went out into the village, and its friends turned against it too._

_The monster took their hearts too._

_Soon, the monster had many hearts, but it was all alone._

_One day, it met with the other half of the monster. "Did you find your heart?" the monster that stayed asked. "I found many hearts. Look at all the hearts that I have."_

_"I did not find a heart." The monster that left said. "But I found something better. I found that I was happy without a heart."_

_"But you need a heart to be happy." The monster that stayed said. "Happiness comes from the heart."_

_"Love comes from the heart, but Happiness is in the people around you." The monster that left told it. "I don't need a heart. I have friends, family, pokémon, all these people around me are my heart. Where's __**your**__ heart?"_

_The monster that stayed was shocked, and looked down at itself, with the empty hearts it had stolen._

"_Give them back to your friends." The monster that left said. "They'll be your heart."_

* * *

"I'm not sure…" Suzaku suggested. "It's nicer than the old ending, but it doesn't seem as good…"

"Oh, do you want our daughter reading the scary version?" Euphie taunted.

"You mean son?" Suzaku laughed. "It'll build character!"

"I think the world's got enough character." Euphie said. "A painless lesson may be meaningless, but that doesn't mean that our children have to learn them the way we did."

"Yeah." Suzaku said with a sad smile. "You're right."

* * *

Cynthia translated the ancient texts using her Geass of Understanding.

It was a huge help, but it was annoying when it acted up in conversation.

Some things you just don't want to know.

Like where your friend got that habit of scratching her ear from.

It was a miracle everyone recovered from that.

* * *

Red sprinted across the blue mountain tops with his old rival, Green.

He slowed down.

"What's up?" Green Oak asked him.

Red looked across the world.

"I'm sorry." he said, turning to his friend and bowing deeply. "I'm an asshole, please forgive me."

Green was dumbfounded for a moment, then his face was overcome with an evil grin.

He drove a knee into Red's nose. "OW!" he shouted, standing upright. "What the-"

WHAM!

Green stood over Red as he hit the ground. "Who said I was ever mad?" he asked, offering a hand to help him to his feet. "Idiot."

* * *

Brendan fell down on the beach he just created.

The World Eater.

He was going to have to change that name of his.

"Here." May said, handing a cup of tea to him as she sat down beside him. "Tiring job, huh?"

"Yeah." Brendan agreed as a swampert tackled him from behind. "Zuzu!" he shouted, throwing it over him while May laughed.

* * *

Mars leant against the wall of the Geass Directorate Academy.

Teaching a bunch of kids was _hard_. Especially since she wasn't allowed to simply torch them.

A black and orange piglet jumped into her arms.

She smiled.

Squiglet always knew how to cheer her up.

* * *

Krys stood atop the mountaintop with her travelling companions, Gold and Wally, looking through her binoculars as Tamaki crawled onto the mountain top, exauhsted.

She smirked as she found her target.

"We've found Victini gentlemen." She announced, letting the binoculars fall to her chest. "Let's move!"

The other two sighed, but followed obediently.

"Wait!" Tamaki groaned, forcing himself to his feet and staggering behind them. "I'm coming"

* * *

"PUSH MRS KURURUGI!" The doctor shouted. "COME ON, YOU CAN DO IT!"

Euphie grunted in agony, face contorted through the labour pains as she squeezed the father's fingers.

Suzaku looked helplessly around the situation, feeling as useless as all fathers do in these circumstances.

* * *

Misty stood outside Red's house as Cynthia walked up to the porch.

The redhead smiled at the blonde.

"He's gonna have to make a choice sometime." Misty shrugged.

* * *

Silver smacked his head against his desk. "I never signed up for this." He said. "I'm not a politician."

"Serves you right for being so good at it." Blue commented, planting a pile of documents onto his desk. "Utopia doesn't come easy."

Silver sighed, rubbing his head into the hardwood.

"Know what?" Silver asked. "I think we're ready for countries again."

* * *

"Daddy!"

Lelouch turned around and picked up the dark-haired little boy that just ran into his arms. "What did you do?" Lelouch asked his son. "Because you don't give me hugs unless you're running from mommy."

Alphonse pulled a sad, innocent face that squealed 'Me? What did _I_ do?' as Sierra placed a firm hand on his shoulder.

Lelouch laughed.

It may have taken Sierra three years to get to where Lelouch was, but he wasn't minding the fact that it was taking longer to get to everyone else.

Especially since his beloved was pregnant.

* * *

Red oversaw the dividing of the map.

They weren't creating nations to conquer, far from it.

There was just too much for a single government to handle.

"I'll take command of Shuenn." Cornelia said.

Lucy nodded, then drew a new territory on the borders of Shuenn.

"We'll call this area Cydonia." Schneizel decided. "Nunnally, do you want to lead this area?"

The blonde girl blinked and nodded. "I would be honoured." She said, looking over the area that she would be responsible for.

* * *

Kallen collapsed onto her bed.

"Long day?" Rivalz asked, toothbrush in his mouth.

"We're dividing the world into multiple nations while doing all we can to avoid war a few decades from now." Kallen sighed. "What do you expect."

"Why I left the government and got into construction." Rivalz laughed. "Not as glorious, but a damn sight less stressful."

"Sign me up." Kallen sighed, before sitting up. "Hell, why am I even complaining? We won, right? Equality for all."

"Price of freedom was pretty steep." Rivalz commented. "It's been a good six years since then."

Kallen pulled her knees into her chest. "Don't start." She said. "I've gone a week without a nightmare about it."

"Three days for me." Rivalz sighed. "Still, it's an improvement, right?"

* * *

Milly gulped the water down like it was the elixir of life.

"We're on air in five minutes miss Ashford." The stage-hand told her.

She nodded, shooing him away as she rehearsed all the new territories on the script in her hand.

* * *

Lloyd danced around the lab, singing in joy and embracing Rakshata in delight as their experiment came to life

Genosect, the Paleozic pokémon, stepped forward, analysing the world.

Their creation _lived_.

* * *

Nunnally walked around her new office in the northern land of Cydonia.

This was her land.

Her property.

"Are we ready my queen?" Redeoxys asked her, taking the form of the legendary hero, Zero,

"Not yet." Nemo told him. "Soon."

* * *

"Daddy!" Alphonse shouted, running to the water's edge where his father was fishing for dinner. "There's something I gotta tell you! One!"

Lelouch smiled. "Alright then." He said. "What is it?"

"There's a friend here two talk to you!"

A friend?

Lelouch stood and turned around.

Then he stepped back.

"Here he is daddy!" Alphonse shouted happily. "I brought him for you, three!"

"Alphonse." Lelouch said as calmly as he could. "Step away from him, now."

"What four daddy?" Al asked.

"That man's not a friend." Lelouch said, keeping himself for lunging at the visitor's throat for his son's sake. "Just step away from him and come to daddy."

**That's not very nice.**

"Let him go." Lelouch snarled as he noticed the hand gripping his son's shoulder tightly.

**No, I think I'll hold onto him for now.**

"You're hurting me!" Alphonse shouted, pulling away from the stranger. "Let me go, five!"

Lelouch cottoned on. "Alphonse, why are you counting?" he asked his son, fearing the worst.

"What're you talking about daddy? Six!"

"What did you do to him?" Lelouch snarled.

**Me? I'm just playing with his mind.**

"Daddy! Seven!"

"Why?" Lelouch demanded.

**To scare him.**

"DADDY!" Alphonse shouted, pulling at the man's grip. "EIGHT!"

"**Why?**" Lelouch reiterated as the world distorted around his fists.

**Because it's funny.** Missingno. smirked. **You won't believe what happens when he reaches ten.**

"DADDY!" Alphonse screamed, tears in his eyes. "NINE!"

"**STOP THIS NOW!**"

"Ten." Alphonse whispered.

* * *

Lelouch woke up, panting for air.

He looked at Sierra, sleeping beside him.

He got out of the bed and checked on his son.

Alphonse was fine.

There was nothing wrong.

It was just a nightmare...

All was right with the world.

Just a few more weeks of travelling, and they'd be with civilisation again. A few days after that, and they'd be reunited with friends and family with a new child in the family.

And if that is the ending that you desire, then it can be the ending if you want it to be. All you have to do is review the story, compliment the author on the happy ending, and close the page and go read something else. With all due respect, you are perfectly free to walk away with a smile on your face.

You did not write this. You aren't required to know Lelouch's fate, what happens to the world, and how the story ends. You're free to have a happy, fulfilling, heartwarming ending where everyone lives happily ever after, good triumphs over evil, and Lelouch takes Suzaku and Red for a round of drinks to celebrate. You don't _have_ to be sad at the end of this.

Alternatively, you could learn what happens when the mew named Alphonse counts to ten. I hope for your sake, however, that you choose to walk away.

For those of you who either cannot take a hint, or were overcome by a maddening desire for truth, I am sorry.

I am so, so, sorry.

_**Varanus:** This is the end, guys, and whichever way it ends for you, remember that you were the one who chose it._


	50. The Ending You Chose

If you are reading this, then either you thought that this was the ending, or you ignored my warnings and chose to see how this all ends.

I cannot for the life of me comprehend why any of you would wish this upon yourselves, so I'll assume that you made a mistake.

Please, go to the previous chapter and enjoy your happy ending. There is no need for you to read this. You don't need to know what happens after Happily Ever After.

_**Varanus:**__ Stories take two people to tell – the story teller and the audience. If you chose not to continue, then the story will have ended already for you. You can leave satisfied that there has been a conclusion, that the nightmare was just that._

_It's our duty to keep telling the story. But it's your choice to be audience to it._

And even as I write this, it saddens me to know that some of you will read and understand my warnings, yet choose the truth over Happily Ever After. It is only natural, there have been so many unfortunate events that have taken place in this story that many of you have decided that even through all this pain, there must be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Sometimes... The light is merely the torch of another wanderer who died, lost and alone in the darkness.

I've already apologised for offering this burden. You were the one who chose to bear it.

We are merely the storyteller. There is no story without the audience.

We apologise for nothing.

* * *

**-}+{-**

* * *

_Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.__ Wisdom is but beginning of fear._

_It would be typical of the followers of Chaos to perpetuate such a hoax, if only to give desperate humans a shadow of hope that could be snatched away._

_It's like in the great stories, Lelouch; the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end... because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened?_

_You and I, Lelouch, are still stuck in the worst places of the story, and it is all too likely that some will say at this point: 'Shut the book now, dad; we don't want to read any more…'_

_Everybody knows that everybody dies and nobody knows it like you do Lelouch. But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark if you ever, even for one moment, accept it. _

_Some days are special. Some days are so, so blessed. Some days, nobody dies at all. _  
_Now and then, every once in a very long while, every day in a million days, when the wind stands fair and the hero comes to call, Everybody Lives._

_This is not one of those days, Lelouch._

* * *

_**January 1st, 0008 AE**_

_The Demon Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia entered the Tohjo Parliament Building and placed himself as ruler._

* * *

**You know the best way to break a man Lelouch?** Missingno. asked the man as he cradled his son. **Drive him to the very depths of despair, then grant him rest. A spot of hope, if you will. **

**It's like fishing. You need to give the fish a little line, then pull it right back in again.**

Lelouch held his son close.

Alphonse was breathing.

**See, you thought I was gone, but then suddenly, I was right there, with your child. **Missingno. chuckled. **I could have just snapped his neck, but then you'd have nothing left to lose. Well, apart from that lovely woman of yours.**

Lelouch stood upright. "**What do you want?**" he asked.

Missingno. smiled.

**You've grown soft.** He said. **Accustomed to this nice life on the road as you make your way back to civilisation. You forgot that you aren't on Earth anymore, **_**this is MY land. My rules.**_

"Daddy..?"

Lelouch stroked his son's hair.

**What I want, Lelouch, is Chaos.** Missingo. Said. **War, carnage, hate, love, passion, death, life, beautiful, endless CHAOS!**

Missingno. stretched a hand to Lelouch.

**Let me show you what I mean.**

* * *

_Using the powers of his Geass, his powers as a Master, his powers as a Demon, and by using the power of the Unown, Lelouch Vi Britannia quickly and efficiently slaughtered the government officials that were granted authority to rule over the region by Central power, and created for himself a throne using the Unown's powers to distort reality to their whim._

* * *

Alphonse whimpered at the red specks appearing in the sky. He was too young, and though he instinctively feared the sight, he didn't understand what they meant.

But his father knew, he could recognise them in a heartbeat, and when they descended around them, numbers enough to blot out the sun, a legion that reached towards the horizon in their uncountable billions, Lelouch remembered what horror was.

Deoxys had descended, to raze this world after having destroyed the last.

**My fellow demons. ** Missingno. told his army. **It has often been said that I like war. Friends, I like war. No, friends, I love war!**

**I love holocausts. I love blitzkriegs. I love defensive lines. I love sieges, charges, I love mop-up operations, and retreats.**

**Wars across prairies, in streets, in trenches, in grasslands, in frozen tundra's, through deserts, on the sea, in the air, I love every act of war that can occur upon this hell and that old Earth.**

**I love blasting the enemy to smithereens with dragon pokémon that thunder across the lines of battle.**

**My heart leaps with joy whenever a soldier is tossed high into the air and cut to pieces by well placed flying pokémon.**

**And there is nothing like a trainer using a pikachu to obliterate enemy gyarados. And the feeling that comes when a soldier runs screaming from his rampaging tyranitar only to be mowed down by screeching weavile, is such an exquisite feeling.**

**Like when ranks of infantry brandish their blades and their pokémon rushing into the enemy line. It moves me deep within my heart to watch a fresh recruit stabbing over and over into the bloated chest of a long-dead enemy.**

**The sight of deserters being strung up from a street lamp is an irresistible pleasure. And there is nothing more arousing, than the sounds made by prisoners of war dropping like flies, screaming in agony as they're mowed down by ear piercing scythers!**

**When a band of pitiful resistance fighters makes their final stands with nothing but small, first stage pokémon, only to have their city smashed to atoms block by block by heatran bombshells, I'm in ecstasy.**

**I love it when my forces are ravaged by an armoured division. It's so sad to see towns and villages that were supposed to be defended at all costs, being laid to waste, their women and children being raped, and killed.**

**I love to be squashed under the heel of the human war machines. The humiliation, as my fellow demons crawl around like vermin, ducking the flames flying overhead.**

**My fellow demons... All I ask for is war, a war so grand as to make Earth itself tremble. Gentlemen, I ask you as fellow brothers in arms, what is it you really want? Do you wish for further war as I do? Do you wish for a merciless, bloody war? A war whose fury is built with iron, and lightning, and fire? Do you ask for war to sweep in like a tempest, leaving not even houndoom to scavenge, from this HELL!**

The demon horde roared in victory, chanting one word in unison: CHAOS! CHAOS! CHAOS!

**Very well. Then chaos is what you shall have. **Missingno. smirked. **We are a clenched fist, ready to strike down all who oppose us, with our might. But... After enduring an eternity wallowing in the darkness with only a moment of light, for us, a simple "ordinary" war will no longer be sufficient. We need a MASSIVE war! A war beyond any other that man's history has never known!**

**We are but a single brood... The remnants of a defeated race numbering less than a million strong. However, I believe that each of you old demons is worth a million of their sickly soft children! We represent a force that could easily defeat an infinite mortal force! It is time for them to awake the ones who sent us screaming into oblivion, and who now lie sleeping. Let's drag them out of bed by the hair, and remind them of what we are! We will remind them of what it feels like to live in fear. We will remind them of the sound our jackboots make against their throats. We will remind them, that there are more things between Heaven and Hell than are dreamt of in their philosophy.**

**Our brood of one million demons will burn this world down to ash. Yes, my friends! Soon, mankind's charred remains will illuminate the night sky! I have brought you all back just as I promised I would. Back to our favourite battlefield. Back to our beloved war!**

**At last, the humans have crossed the ocean and are heading up the hill! Attention forces of Chaos, this is a message from your GOD:**

**Friends...** Missingno. smiled as Lelouch watched in horror. **Let us raise hell...**

* * *

_The union of the thirty nine nations were outraged, and voices called for a militia. Instead, Red decided to meet the demon emperor in person and to question his madness. Unfortunately, this was for nought, and he barely escaped with his life. _

_Indeed, the time Lelouch had spent battling Missingno. had driven him mad, and he lusted after one thing and one thing alone._

_The destruction of the world.  
_

* * *

**And the best part of it all is, they have no idea that I took that particular speech from you humans in the FIRST place!** Missingno. laughed. **Oh, but it gets better. See, we've got someone on the inside.**

"Nemo." Lelouch snarled.

**That's right.** Missingno. smiled. **Which reminds me. Your sister's dead. Yeah, see, we broke her pretty little head so hard that Nemo has full control now, and your sister's never coming back. She's gone.**

"So, that's it?" Lelouch asked flatly. "You came all this way to tell me that everything that I've done was for nothing?"

**No! Well, yes, obviously, but I came here to offer you a choice. **Missingno. said. **Go there, rally the humans to fight against us, or go make yourself the demon.**

Lelouch glared at him.

**See, we want war.** Missingno. shrugged. **But we don't care whose. I think it's far more interesting to see you go out there against impossible odds than it is for humans to fight against demons like before.**

"And why should I do that?" Lelouch asked as he felt a tugging at his leg.

"Daddy?" Alphonse asked. "My head hurts…"

Lelouch looked at his son in horror, then back to see Missingno. gleefully tapping his head, a drumming of four beats in a row.

**That's my little trick.** Missingno. said. **I'm in his head. I can make him do whatever I want.**

"Daddy…" Alphonse sobbed as he created a dagger from nothingness and held it to his own throat.

**Ooh, what to do daddy?** Missingno. cackled. **The world's blood on your hand, or your son's? Either way, there's gonna be a holocaust, so really it's all about the guilt.**

* * *

_The world raised arms for the first time since the new genesis, rising against a tyrant._

_Lelouch fought for power, rising to become a god._

_And we, the people, fought against him._

* * *

Lelouch slammed a fist of black lightning through Missingno.'s head. Its body fell to the ground, and Lelouch knelt with his son, clutching him by either side of the head and entered his mind.

He saw it, a black shadow of unnatural shapes lurking at the front of his son's psyche. It stirred, as if to speak, to react.

It didn't get the chance.

With cold swiftness, Lelouch murdered the demon within Alphonse's head.

"Your move, Missingno." The Black Prince snarled.

* * *

_But with his demons and his wrath, the demon emperor conquered the world._

_The human race and their pokémon, what was left, had to run._

_We fled, and we hid, and we grew strong, ready to fight another day._

* * *

Nemo smiled.

"Do it, brother." She said, turning to Redeoxys as it took the form of Lelouch Lamperouge.

"Yes." He said, donning the cloak and robes of a destroyer. "My sister."

* * *

Missingno. laughed.

**This is even better.** He said. **I hope you can lead a successful rebellion, now that you've become a monster.**

"What are you talking about?" Lelouch snarled, before he realised Missingno.'s plan.

* * *

The unmasked Zero threw the doors of the Tohjo building wide open.

Many were startled, but seeing Zero once again after so long, some began to cheer, running up to greet the hero that had delivered them to the new world.

"ATTENTION ALL HUMANS!" Zero roared, stopping them in their tracks. People began to scream as unown span around him and he launched black flames through the building. "I, LELOUCH VI BRITANNIA! COMMAND YOU!"

The unown opened a portal and the horde of demons began to spill through.

"DIE!"

* * *

**Did you know, Deoxys have the same base stats as a common demon?** Missingno. asked. **That's because they are. They came into your world unbidden, and brought about its end. They were just that little bit more determined, that's all.**

Lelouch looked upon the demon in horror.

* * *

The demons rushed through the crowds of helpless humans, snapping at them and dashing them across the concrete with their flailing limbs.

Whoever wasn't killed and devoured with merciful haste were left crying out in pain as they were perforated by stabbing tentacles.

The survivors tried to drag themselves to freedom, but the pain and sickness they felt made them look down at their wounds.

Each and every one was swelling up with vile green tumours.

Then, they too, died.

"DEEeeOOooXYYyySSss..." The deoxys roared with stolen voices, exploding out of the hosts that had previously been consumed.

The people screamed as demons burst from every shadow, as deoxys burst from their friend's corpses and as the blue sky was painted red, as if with blood.

The sun darkened, its glorious white flame burning black with malice.

The world returned to hell.

* * *

**Eight years of peace, Lelouch.** Missingno. said. **No human has experienced that in centuries. All of your friends have grown soft in the solace you gave them. Were they still warring with one another, they'd be ready for us. They could fight back.**

**As they are?** Missingno. chuckled. **It's like bringing mareep to the slaughter. Thank you for making it so easy.**

* * *

Red led the charge against the epicentre of the chaos, the Tohjo parliament building.

Tentacles and twisted blades lashed out, black lighting and silver flames consuming those around him.

He slowed his charge as his brother leapt through the air and slammed into the ground before him, darkness writhing around his body.

Red's Geass took over his body.

"**RETREAT!**" he shouted to those around, but they couldn't hear.

Wounds they had buried long ago exploded into memories of pain and agony, and an army fell to their knees in fear.

Nemo watched the broken men from above as she twisted their souls around her fingers, weaving a tapestry of misery and sorrow in the hearts of men.

* * *

**Come on Lelouch.** Missingno. said, standing upright. **We're not gonna kill all of the humans. We'll leave you just enough to lead a decent insurrection against us. Of course, they still think you're batting for the other team, if you know what I mean, so you'll have your work cut out for you.**

Lelouch destroyed the demon's body with white flames in a fit of rage.

* * *

Suzaku carried his wife and child, leading an exodus into refuge as the forces of hell ravaged their new world.

Many of those around couldn't move. Some fell to their knees in terror, some were so broken that they just stood and laughed as the demons ran through them with their blades.

The pokémon didn't hesitate. They all either fought against the enemy, fang and claw, or they led those that would still run to safer lands.

The soldier in Suzaku screamed at him with every fibre of his being to charge into the carnage, to obliterate the foe, to make them pay in blood for each scream they brought about, for each life they ended.

The father, the husband, and the coward in him, however, forced him to run, if only for his wife and daughter.

* * *

**By the time you get to civilisation, the whole thing should've blown over.** Missingno. said, regenerating the damage. **Bet you wish you kept that Dark/Psychic match up so you could teleport, don't you?** He asked. **Because right now, everyone's watching Lelouch Vi Britannia slaughter an entire nation.**

* * *

The one deoxys who wasn't consumed by the bloodrage was forced to kill the woman that she saw as her own mother. She did it to slay the parasite that stole Shirley's life, snatching it from the human to the monster that wept for the blood on her hands.

"That's not Lulu." The woman muttered to herself as Zero tore through the burning sky and laughed with each moment of death and chaos. "That's not Lulu."

**Indeed it is not.**

The girl turned to the mewtwo that landed beside her. "Vengeance!" she gasped.

**The war is lost. Run.**

"I'll fight with you." The girl said, beginning to transform, but stopped as the mewtwo gripped her arm.

**If we are to survive, then the humans must be protected until they can rise again.**

** The present is lost. The future is all we have. ****You must ensure the insurrection.**

_**GO!**_

Shirley nodded. "Alright." she said, turning around and pursuing those she could fight alongside.

The mewtwo smirked as he shifted into the form of 'M.

**And so it begins...**

* * *

**Also, that girl of yours is about to go into labour, so you're in no position to be running and saving the world.** Missingno pointed out, stepping into the darkness. **Just saying.**

Lelouch collapsed to his knees as Sierra grunted in pain, holding his son tight as the sky burnt red under the black sun, the air filled with the the sounds of madness all around as the demon walked away from the carnage he had created.**  
**

**See you at the end of the world Lelouch...**


End file.
